Fenan Rassu, PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist • Assistant Professor
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
My name is Fenan Rassu, Ph.D. (pronounced: fun-ANN Rah-soo). I'm a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Clinically, I work with adults living with disability due to injury or illness, including chronic pain. My research examines why evidence-based pain and rehabilitation care reaches some people and not others, with an emphasis on improving access and use.
As Co-Director of the Hopkins Pain & Rehabilitation Lab, I lead studies on why effective pain treatments so often fail to reach the people who need them, whether the barrier is a neighborhood, a referral that stalls, or a treatment a patient never sees as worth it.
Recent Updates
August 5, 2026
Mahi Shah and Spoorthy Reddy Present at the Hopkins Summer Research Symposium
Undergraduate research assistants Mahi Shah and Spoorthy Reddy presented at the Johns Hopkins Summer Research Symposium. Their poster described the development and cognitive pretesting of a discrete choice experiment designed to measure treatment preferences among adults living with chronic pain.
July 29, 2026
Summer Lab Hangout at Ministry of Brewing
We gathered for a summer lab hangout at Ministry of Brewing to share some pizza and enjoy each other's company outside the usual meetings and deadlines. It was also a chance to send off our postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Kristen Pasko, with gratitude for all she has brought to the lab.
May 8, 2026
Ruomu Dong Presents at UCLA PURC
Undergraduate research assistant Ruomu Dong traveled to UCLA to present her poster on pain distribution and psychological distress at the UCLA Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference.