Rami Najjar investigates the molecular mechanisms by which plant-based diets improve cardiovascular function.
Rami Najjar is a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University. He studies the role of plant-based diets and dietary bioactive components in cardiovascular disease. In this Postdoc Portrait, he describes his background as a basic scientist and how he has since transitioned to a clinical lab to gain clinical research skills.
Shifting Focus to Nutrition Science
Q | How did you first get interested in your field of research?
I became interested in nutrition science as an undergraduate student at the University of Houston where I gained exposure to nutrition research on a website called nutritionfacts.org. After that, I changed my major from computer information systems to human nutrition. I conducted clinical research examining plant-based diets in patients with hypertension and hyperlipidemia during my master’s degree at Texas Women’s University. Then, I pursued a PhD at Georgia State University which was basic science focused. I explored how polyphenols and polyphenol-rich foods could target molecular pathways of cardiovascular diseases, namely, hypertension and heart failure.
Exploring Dietary Efficacy in Cardiovascular Disease
Q | Tell us about your favorite research project you’re working on.
I recently completed a United States Department of Agriculture-funded postdoctoral fellowship in which I studied the effects of a plant-based diet in coronary microvascular dysfunction in hypertensive rats. This was the first study of its kind to evaluate the effects of diet in coronary microvascular function. It required me to learn new techniques in echocardiography and biomedical techniques such as single-cell isolation. I enjoyed this project as I had agency over its design and execution, allowing me to grow towards independence. The results of this study were also exciting.
Q | What has been the most exciting part of your scientific journey so far?
I find it exciting to address research questions which can impact public health and medicine at large. My research has found that a plant-based diet has unusually high efficacy to treat various cardiovascular diseases based on pilot clinical studies and animal models. Putting this to the test in more rigorous trials and combining these clinical studies with basic science approaches I learned during my PhD, are aspects I find particularly exciting and motivate me to want to have my own lab to pursue these unexplored avenues of research.
Q | If you could be a laboratory instrument, which one would you be and why?
I would be a 10-microliter pipette. It’s the instrument that requires the most precision, and in my experience, is the most frequently used. At least my life as a pipette would have action.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
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