Julia Bohannon, Ph.D. – Dr. Bohannon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Bohannon’s NIH funded research program is aimed at studying clinically relevant immunomodulatory treatments to boost innate immune responses following severe burn injury for the prevention of nosocomial infections, the leading cause of death in surviving burn patients. Utilizing a variety of trauma and infection models, Dr. Bohannon’s studies seek to understand how critical illness causes immune dysfunction and increased susceptibility to infection. The goal of these studies is to develop new approaches to decrease the incidence and severity of infection in critically injured patients.  

Dr. Bohannon completed her bachelor’s degree in molecular biology at Eastern Kentucky University. She received her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Texas Medical Branch and completed her postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Anesthesiology. Dr. Bohannon has received numerous research excellence awards for her work, including the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Faculty Clinical and Translational Research Scholar’s Award, the G. Jeanette Thorbecke Award from the Society of Leukocyte Biology, as well as a Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award from the National Institute of General Medicine, which currently funds her studies. She is nationally recognized for her expertise in the field of burn immunology. 

Dr. Antonio Hernandez – Dr. Hernandez is a Professor of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Co-Medical Director, CV-ICU. Dr. Hernandez develops new therapies to enhance innate immunity mediated antimicrobial function and protect against inflammation-induced organ injury. His research includes the study of trained immunity to alter the inflammatory response to infection or injury, and has focused on synthetic de novo vaccine adjuvants which are candidates for pharmaceutical development. He employs clinically relevant models of acute sepsis, sepsis-induced immunosuppression, and ischemia reperfusion injury to train the innate immune system to enhance antimicrobial function and reduce organ injury. His clinical interests focus on improving outcomes in critically ill and cardiac surgery patients. His work contributes to ongoing development of new treatment modalities against infections.

Dr. Hernandez received his Bachelor of Science in biology with honors from the University of Texas at El Paso and his Medical Doctorate from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. After completing an anesthesiology residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, he remained there to complete fellowships in Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine followed by a fellowship in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology. He was appointed to the faculty at Vanderbilt University where he also received his Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation. In addition to his research, Dr. Hernandez directs the cardiovascular intensive care unit (largest heart transplant program in the world for 3 consecutive years) where he has built perioperative support services for advanced care programs, including total artificial heart, pulmonary endarterectomy, combined heart-lung, and heart-liver transplantation, and various mechanical support services to include extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).