About Theodore Walrond
I'm Theodore Rex Walrond. I answer to Rex, which is why you'll also find me as Rex Walrond, including on my other site, rexwalrond.com.
How I got into research
I chose behavioral and cognitive neuroscience because I wanted to understand behavior from the physical side: how chemistry and wiring in the brain show up in learning, mood and movement. That curiosity turned into two research roles.
From 2022 to 2023 I worked at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute on a single hard question: can a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a bleed into the space around the brain, leave someone more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease later on? My job was to read and analyze the evidence, more than 300 studies, and turn it into a framework of the variables that seemed to connect vascular injury to neurodegeneration. The team used it to decide which experiments to run next, and I presented the findings to faculty across three departments.
Earlier, in the summer of 2021, I worked as a research assistant at Romark Laboratories. I built dashboards that tracked more than 25 COVID-19 drug candidates by trial phase, mechanism and early efficacy, and reviewed over 400 articles on the antiviral potential of niclosamide.
Teaching underwater
From 2020 to 2023 I was a divemaster and teaching assistant for UF's Scientific Diving Program. I helped run courses from Open Water through Master Diver: in-water skill sessions, dry-land drills and classroom lectures on dive planning, dive physics and physiology, for more than 30 students. My own certifications are through SDI: Open Water, Advanced, Nitrox, Rescue, Master Scuba Diver and Divemaster.
Most of my diving has been in Florida's freshwater springs, and Paradise Springs is the one I'd go back to tomorrow. The best dive I've done anywhere was the kelp forest off Catalina Island.
Time above treeline
The trip people ask about is Mount Rainier, which I climbed on a guided expedition with International Mountain Guides in 2020. The rest of my list is mostly long backpacking routes: the Four Pass Loop near Maroon Bells (2019), the John Muir Trail through Yosemite with side trips up Half Dome and Clouds Rest (2021), the Teton Crest Trail (2022), Boulder Pass in Glacier National Park (2023), and fifty miles of High Sierra from Onion Valley to Whitney Portal (2025). I keep shorter trip notes in my field notes.
Giving back
In 2025 and 2026 I volunteered as an Impact Partner with the American Parkinson Disease Association, leading a monthly support group of 15 to 20 people. I wrote about what that year taught me.
What I'm doing now
I'm building an early-stage venture in consumer health, where my research background and my finance coursework both get used every week.
Off the clock
Golf, acoustic guitar, more sleep and training data than anyone needs, and strong opinions about Zach Bryan's catalog.