Department of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
Fernando Holguin, MD
 |
Assistant Professor of Medicine Phone: 412-692-2139 |
Bio
Dr Holguin graduated from La Salle University School of Medicine in Mexico City and continued his subspecialty training in Internal medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia. He subsequently returned to Mexico as a researcher in the National Institute of Public Health. He then rejoined the Pulmonary and critical Care Faculty at Emory in 2002 and was also recruited as an adjunct researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. During his faculty tenure at Emory University, Dr Holguin Directed the Adult Asthma and Allergy Clinics at Grady Memorial Hospital. Currently, Dr Holguin works in clinical and translational asthma research with Dr Sally Wenzel and is the Director of the Heinz Environmental Asthma Research Center, which conducts clinical and environmental health research on children with asthma from disadvantaged communities in Pittsburgh.
Clinical Interests
Dr Holguin’s clinical interests primarily focus on treating patients with severe asthma and on understanding the association between environmental asthma triggers with asthma severity and control.
Academic and Research Interests
Dr Holguin’s other non-environmental areas of research include asthma epidemiology and translational asthma research. Specifically, understanding the role of adipokines and airway inflammation and oxidative stress and the role of PPAR gamma agonists to treat severe, obese asthmatics.
Association between Exhaled NO, FEV1 and FVC and road density in different buffers, in asthmatics (dark) and normal children (gray). These results suggests that higher road density and therefore traffic in close proximity, is associated with increase airway inflammation and reduced lung volumes in asthmatics. |
 |
This graph depicts the association between same-day exposure to PM2.5 and the high frequency component of heart rate variability (fine particulate matter) before and after supplementation with 2gr of either omega-3 or soy oil in elderly subjects. The results suggest that omega-3 supplementation reduces the reduction in the high frequency component of heart rate variability associated with PM2.5 exposure. |
 |
This graphic illustrates the association between exhaled nitric oxide (continuous line) and exhaled 8-isoprostanes (broken line) and BMI among adult asthmatics with moderate to severe asthma. These results suggest that as BMI increases, asthmatics exhaled less NO and more 8-isoprosanes. |
Key Publications
Romieu I, Tellez-Rojo MM, Lazo M, Holguin, F. Omega-3 fatty acid prevents heart rate variability reductions associated with particulate matter. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. Dec 15 2005;172(12):1534-1540.
Holguin, F, Flores S, Ross Z, Molina M, Molina L, Granados A, Rincon C, Cortez M, Bernhave K, Jerret M, Romieu I. Traffic-related exposures, airway function, inflammation and respiratory symptoms in children. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2008: 176: 1236-1242.
Sumita Khatri, Joel Mermis, Samira Savill, Shireen Haque, Mauricio Rojas, LouAnn Brown, Gerald W Teague and Fernando Holguin. Body mass index is associated with reduced exhaled nitric oxide and higher exhaled 8-isoprostanes in asthmatics. Respiratory Research 2007, 8:32 (16 April 2007)