Meet Jessica Stern, MD, MS

Despite the availability of effective treatments, asthma continues to drive high rates of emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and preventable deaths. Jessica Stern, MD, MS, is on a mission to help people with asthma achieve better health outcomes. In 2025, Stern received a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project, Using Implementation Science to Design a Community Health Worker Model for Asthma Care.

“When I talk to asthma patients and caregivers about their condition, a common emotion they express and report is fear,” said Stern, a researcher and associate professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the divisions of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology and Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. “While it's a heartbreaking disease because the sensation of not being able to breathe can be terrifying, it is also very treatable.”

That fear factor is magnified by systemic barriers that can make it difficult for individuals to gain access to the specialty care and medications they need. “The research we’re conducting is aimed at helping patients with asthma and their caregivers remove these barriers, treat their symptoms, and maintain control of their asthma,” said Stern.

Asthma’s National and Local Impact 

More than 28 million Americans have asthma, making it one of the nation’s most pervasive chronic diseases. In 2025, the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America ranked Rochester, New York, as the second worst city to live with asthma. This year, Rochester was also ranked the fifth most challenging place to live with pollen allergy in the U.S. This is important because the co-morbidity of pollen allergies (allergic rhinitis or environmental allergies) is an asthma risk factor that influences outcomes. 

“In Rochester, access and referral to asthma specialists is variable,” explained Stern. “And environmental conditions such as seasonal allergies and airborne particle pollution lead to high respiratory risk for residents.”

As with other chronic diseases, the prognosis is often worse for people of color. Black and Puerto Rican asthma patients typically experience worse outcomes than other populations, often from a combination of structural barriers. 

A Community-Focused Approach to Care

The NIH K23 award is designed to support early and mid-career investigators as they build independence and develop research programs that directly address urgent healthcare problems. Over the next five years, Stern will develop, test, and refine a program to improve asthma care by better aligning evidence-based medicine with the realities of patients’ daily lives.

Central to this work is the idea that effective asthma care must extend beyond the clinic. Stern’s project is focused on adapting a community health worker model—an approach that leverages trusted community members to help patients navigate care, understand treatment plans, and reduce barriers to effective treatment.

“One of the adjacent research projects I’m working on is to understand how we can center environmental justice in improving outcomes for people with asthma and allergic disease,” explained Stern. “Other cities have really focused a lot on the home environment, and given that there can be home triggers for asthma, how do we partner with community-based organizations to model improved care?”

The Role of Implementation Science

Implementation science is at the core of Stern’s project, a field that focuses on how to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions into real-world treatments. Rather than asking whether a treatment works in ideal conditions, implementation science asks how to make proven approaches work in specific communities and health systems that present unique challenges.

This means identifying barriers such as cost, transportation, trust, and gaps in communication. It also means adapting solutions to fit local clinical practices and community needs, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all model.

A defining feature of this approach is centering community voice. By engaging directly with patients, families, and community partners, Stern aims to ensure that new care models account for their lived experience and address their concerns, especially in communities that have historically been underserved.

“It would be amazing to have our system collaborate in a more holistic way,” said Stern. “When we're treating conditions such as asthma, where the environment is such a big part of the issue, it’s essential that we meet people where they are.”

Improving Health Outcomes and Reducing Fear

In the end, Stern hopes to reduce emergency department visits, asthma-related morbidity, patterns of incorrect medication use, and improve quality of life. These metrics provide a clear indication of quality of care at the population level.

Beyond the hard numbers, conversations with advisory boards and community outreach efforts where patients and families can provide direct feedback will help Stern and her team understand positive changes such as increased confidence in managing asthma, better understanding of treatment options, and greater trust in the healthcare system.

“For many families, asthma is a source of constant anxiety fueled by unpredictable symptoms, emergency room visits, and uncertainty about how to stay healthy,” concluded Stern. “Our community health worker model for asthma care will go a long way toward alleviating these fears as we make treatment more effective and equitable.”