Assistant Professor of Physiology
Example University School of Medicine
I study how the cardiovascular system remodels itself under chronic stress — and how that knowledge can reach clinicians and students who need it. My lab combines in vivo physiology with computational modelling.
The questions that drive my programme of work.
How sustained pressure overload reshapes myocardial structure, and which of those changes are reversible.
The signalling pathways through which endothelial cells sense and respond to shear stress.
Multi-scale models that link ion-channel kinetics to whole-organ function and clinical measurement.
Evidence-based approaches to teaching physiology, with a focus on retrieval practice and concept inventories.
Funded studies and ongoing lines of enquiry.
FeaturedA five-year programme asking whether the structural changes induced by chronic pressure overload can be reversed once the load is relieved, and which molecular signatures predict recovery. The study combines a rodent model of aortic banding with longitudinal echocardiography and single-nucleus transcriptomics.
Funded by National Institutes of Health
Read more
FeaturedBuilding and validating a computational model that links mechanosensitive ion-channel behaviour to vessel-level flow responses, with the aim of predicting where atherosclerotic lesions form.
Funded by National Science Foundation
Read moreA few papers that best represent the work.
Rahman A, Farhadi L, Okonkwo S, Nakamura H
The Journal of Physiology, 2026
Okonkwo S, Rahman A, Vasquez D
PLOS Computational Biology, 2025
Rahman A, Delacroix M
Advances in Physiology Education, 2025
Where the work has been presented lately.
International Congress of Physiological Sciences · Kyoto, Japan · Nov 10, 2026
Association of Medical Educators Annual Meeting · Toronto, Canada · May 14, 2026
Notes on research, teaching and academic life.
Write the hypothesis before you touch the pipette, and say plainly when the data doesn't support it.
Why I replaced half the lecture slides in PHYS 301 with low-stakes questions — and what the exam data showed.
An honest account of what worked, what we abandoned, and where preregistration genuinely improved the science.
Prizes, fellowships and recognitions received along the way.
Example University School of Medicine
May 20, 2023
Open to collaborations, speaking invitations and enquiries from prospective students.