The GROklahoma Podcast Show | On Aging: Slope, Not Intercept – The One Dr. Andriy Yabluchanskiy: Episode 29 (2026)

I'm back from South Korea, and yes, this episode was worth the time-zone gymnastics.

I sit down with Andriy Yabluchanskiy, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at OU Health, to talk about the science of aging and what it actually takes to stay stronger, sharper, and more curious as we get older.

Andriy grew up in eastern Ukraine in a family of physicians, splitting his childhood between a busy city and his grandparents' farm outside Donetsk, hot summers, brutal winters, and parents whose patient care he quietly absorbed. Funny enough, he swears Oklahoma reminds him of Donetsk: flat land, scorching summers, the same wide-open feel, minus the red dirt. Ten years later, he's still here, and he'll tell you Oklahoma punches above its weight in aging research, real support for junior faculty, and room to build that bigger, flashier institutions can't match.

His path is one you wouldn't believe if someone handed it to you cold: medical school in Ukraine, a PhD offer from a London professor on the spot, and a stack of American CVs that went unanswered, except one. That reply led him through Texas and Mississippi to Oklahoma, where he now runs the Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at OU Health, studying how blood vessels in the brain fail before neurons do, and whether protecting them is the key to protecting cognition itself.

He also lives the science he studies. Andriy breaks down what intermittent fasting is really doing to cerebrovascular health, why he'd rather play soccer than run a treadmill, why muscle mass may matter more than almost anything else as you age, and how he separates supplements worth your money from the noise. If you've ever stood in the vitamin aisle unsure what's real, this is the episode.

He's honest, too, about the mid-career slump nobody warns you about, too senior to be junior, too junior to be senior, suddenly expected to build something bigger than yourself.

The line that gave this episode its name came from his own mentor: hire for slope, not for intercept. Don't judge people by where they start, judge them by where they're headed. Turns out that's not bad advice for aging either.

If you care about brain health, aging research, mentorship, or legacy, this one's for you.

 

The GROklahoma Podcast is an initiative of the Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resources (OSCTR). New episodes amplify the people and programs shaping the future of clinical and translational research in Oklahoma and beyond.