Breathing beyond barriers

Michelle Hernandez is leading asthma research in rural communities across North Carolina to make care and clinical studies more accessible.

Michelle Hernandez's entire career has been motivated by her family. She was inspired to earn an advanced degree by her brother, decided to become a doctor after seeing the cancer care her mother received, and resolved to find better treatments for asthma patients due to her father's battle with the disease."This work is in honor of my dad, who passed away due to complications from an asthma attack in 2022," she shares. "I believe his type of asthma was influenced by a protein that I'm now studying. That's why I'm in it."

Hernandez is a pediatric allergist and immunologist at the UNC School of Medicine and director of the N.C. Child Health Research Network. She is working to make access to asthma care and research studies easier for everyone, especially those living in rural areas.

She believes advanced treatments, such as injectable medications, play a crucial role in significantly improving the quality of life for patients with difficult-to-treat asthma. In her lab, she is testing therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing inflammation caused by environmental allergens and air pollution.

"There are gaps in the different types of asthma that people experience for which we don't have effective medications," she notes. "I want to provide access to clinical trials so we can explore more options for these individuals."

Read more at UNC Research Stories