I am proud of the hard work I’ve put into these projects to ensure that they’ve gone smoothly.”
Hannah Johnson
PhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering
Hannah Johnson is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering. She studies how emerging treatments enhance brain function by using MRI to assess the brain’s response to movement and breathing exercises. Hannah has also been a fellow on two training grants at Northwestern: the Training Program in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and the Pathophysiology and Rehabilitation of Neural Dysfunction Training Program.
How would you describe your research and/or work to a non-academic audience?
I study how new therapeutic treatments improve the function and health of the brain. Using MRI, I see how different areas of the brain function during tasks like wiggling your feet or breathing different gases, and I look at how this function changes with specific respiratory treatments.
Whom do you admire in your field and otherwise, and why?
MRI is still a relatively young field, and I've had the opportunity to meet some of the trailblazers of fundamental techniques that are widely used in clinical work and in my own research. John Detre, Peter Bandettini, and Hanzhang Lu are just a few of the many researchers I admire and whose work has significantly influenced my own. I'm also fortunate to have Gordon Mitchell on my doctoral committee, whose pioneering work with intermittent hypoxia therapy has inspired and laid a foundation for my own research.
What do you find both rewarding and challenging about your research and/or work?
My research revolves around the human brain, which means working with human participants, and human participants can be incredibly challenging. People are busy, and it’s hard to get them to take time out of their day to come lay in an MRI machine for an hour, and if you’re working with a patient population, it gets even harder. People are also very variable – they might move in the scanner, or do a task differently than you imagined, or their brain might not respond in the way you expect.
Working with human participants is also incredibly rewarding, though, as it means my research has real implications for human health and medical treatments, and the participants I’ve been lucky enough to work with have all been lovely people who are genuinely interested in the science and in helping to progress clinical research.
What is the biggest potential impact or implication of your work?
Studies in the therapeutic treatment that my research has focused on, acute intermittent hypoxia therapy, have mainly focused on how this new treatment can be used to improve strength and walking function. My research instead focuses on how this therapy can improve brain health. This work could therefore have great impact on the patient groups and conditions that this therapy is used in, expanding its applications from people with spinal cord injury to also include people with brain injuries and disorders, like stroke and multiple sclerosis.
How do you unwind after a long day?
I volunteer at an animal shelter! I don’t have any pets of my own at the moment, so I love any time that I get to spend with animals. Plus, I get in exercise and fresh air walking all the dogs, time with friends I volunteer with, and to feel good that I’m helping out—it’s a total win in my book.
What books are on your bedside table?
I'm currently in the middle of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, which are both incredible so far!
What did you originally want to be when you grew up?
I’ve got a soft spot for interior and home design, so I wanted to be an architect. I possess zero talent for drawing, though, so I had to pivot.
What are you most proud of in your career to date?
I’ve worked on two clinical trials so far during graduate school, which can be a beast with many moving parts and the extensive administrative, recruitment, and data collection activities that are required. There is such a feeling of accomplishment when you finally complete one of these trials and get to look at the data to answer your study questions, though, and I am proud of the hard work I’ve put into these projects to ensure that they’ve gone smoothly.
Publish Date: March 31, 2026