Affiliation: Department of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic

Dr. Obaid Khurram received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Physiology from the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences under the guidance of Dr. Carlos Mantilla. His dissertation focused on characterizing the extent of functional motor deficits in various rat models of phrenic motor neuron loss. He then joined the lab of Dr. CJ Heckman at Northwestern University, where he studied the effects of neuromodulatory influences and persistent inward currents on motor unit discharge patterns in human limb muscles. He is currently a research associate in the lab of Dr. Gary Sieck, working primarily on understanding the impact of spinal cord injury on respiratory motor unit output. His work uses compound EMG, motor unit recordings, and pressure measurements to assess diaphragm muscle activity that sheds light on mechanisms governing the inspiratory and expiratory phases of the breath.