Inaugural Director, Center for NTM Innovation
John S. Chapman Endowed Professorship, Microbiology
Phone: 903.877.8730
Email: jennifer.honda@uttyler.edu
Department: Cellular and Molecular Biology
Jennifer Honda
Dr. Honda was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Colorado State University in Biology and Zoology and Master of Science degree in Microbiology from the University of Hawai’i. From the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, she received her Ph.D. in Microbiology with postdoctoral fellowship training in Infectious Disease and Pulmonary Science. Dr. Honda started and grew her NTM research program as an Instructor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado.
Today, Dr. Honda continues to expand her basic science, translational mycobacteriology research program at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. Her research program actively studies the 1) environmental- 2) host– 3) microbial factors that contribute to NTM pulmonary disease emergence globally. The Honda Lab consistently seeks to learn more about the environmental drivers of NTM (particularly in hot spot areas like Hawai’i and in the context of climate change), routinely cultures NTM from a variety of diverse environmental samples and utilizes these recovered isolates to explore the intra- and inter- NTM species differences that contribute to pathogenicity and host evasion. Active in the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Pulmonary Infections and Tuberculosis (PI-TB) Assembly since 2014, she is the recipient of an ATS Foundation award in Pulmonary Medicine, named PI-TB’s Rising Star in 2019 and Top Junior Faculty in 2021, and became an ATS Fellow in 2022. The European Respiratory Society distinguished Dr. Honda in 2020 as an Innovator in NTM Science and Medicine.
In her free time, she is a foodie who enjoys traveling and experiencing new places and surroundings, spending time with family and friends, and is in constant admiration of her Australian Shepherd “Keola” while always laughing at the foolish antics of her French Bulldog, “Nalu.”
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