Dr. Hernandez’s research concentrates on orthopaedic biomechanics with an emphasis on the biological processes in bone and how they influence bone material properties and biomechanical function. Dr. Hernandez’s research focuses on bone remodeling, the primary process through which bone mass and structure are modified in adults. Bone remodeling is the only known process through which cracks and other damage caused by repetitive loading can be removed from bone tissue. Without removal of microscopic cracks and other damage through bone remodeling, fatigue failure of long bones in the legs would be expected to occur once every 7 years in moderately active individuals. Conversely, excessive amounts of bone remodeling have been associated with increased risk of osteoporosis-related fractures in the elderly. In his laboratory Dr. Hernandez uses materials testing, histology, novel three-dimensional fluorescence imaging techniques, and in vivo models to understand how bone remodeling balances the needs of damage repair and fracture risk in humans and how existing and emergent treatments can be used to reduce fracture risk in the elderly. The long-term goal of this work is to understand the development of osteoporosis and methods of preventing and/or treating osteoporosis-related fractures.

Originally from Fresno, California, Dr. Hernandez earned a S.B. in Engineering Sciences Cum Laude with a specialty in Biomedical Engineering from Harvard University (1996). He went on to earn M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University (1997, 2001). As a graduate student he was awarded an NSF graduate research fellowship and a Dissertation Fellowship from the Ford Foundation. Prior to joining the faculty at Cornell University he trained as a post-doctoral fellow in Department of Orthopaedics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York (2001-2002) and in the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory at UC Berkeley (2002-2005) and served as Assistant Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Hernandez is a member of the Orthopaedic Research Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the International Bone and Mineral Society and the International Society for Bone Morphometry. Dr. Hernandez was awarded the Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award by the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research in 2006 and has twice been a finalist for the New Investigator Recognition Award by the Orthopaedic Research Society (2004, 2006).