Rafael E. Hernandez, MD, PhD

Dr. Rafael Hernandez’s research focuses on understanding the pathogenesis of mycobacteria. He studies both Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), which cause lung or other infections in people with cystic fibrosis and other underlying medical conditions. His focus is on developing better treatment strategies for both tuberculosis and NTM infections. One aim of his work is to understand how mycobacteria interact with cells of the immune system to promote their own survival and how this interaction may make them more resistant to killing by antibiotics. He is also focused on developing better treatment strategies for NTM, including using a modeling approach to identify multidrug regimens which are more effective against NTM. To conduct these investigations Dr. Hernandez employs a combination of bacterial genetics, microbiology, cellular model, and zebrafish animal model experimental approaches. This work will help to facilitate development of more effective and shorter treatments for both tuberculosis and NTM disease. Dr. Hernandez works closely with Dr. Sherman in the UW Department of Microbiology and Dr. Ma in Pediatrics. He also serves as the director of the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Isolate Core at Seattle Children’s Hospital, which distributes bacterial isolates and performs microbiology testing to facilitate CF microbiology research both locally and nationally.