From Chemical Engineering to Medicine: AJ Hernandez Chooses Miller School’s M.D./M.B.A. Path
An incoming M.D./M.B.A. student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, AJ Hernandez discusses how a chemical engineering education at Johns Hopkins shaped his approach to medicine, why physician leadership matters and what drew him back to Miami.
AJ Hernandez is coming home. He grew up a few miles from the University of Miami campus, and this fall, he’s returning as an incoming M.D./M.B.A. student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, bringing with him a chemical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins and a clear sense of why he’s pursuing a business degree alongside his clinical training.
Below, he talks about that decision, along with his interest in pediatric ophthalmology and what drew him back to Miami for medical school.
You studied chemical engineering at Johns Hopkins, which isn’t the most common pre-med path. Why go that route instead of something more traditional, like biology?
I wanted something that would complement medicine rather than repeat it. If I’d majored in biology, I’d be relearning a lot of the same material in medical school. Johns Hopkins actually blended engineering and medicine really well.
One of our biggest classes, transport phenomena, covered fluid dynamics and heat and mass transfer, but instead of teaching it through manufacturing, they taught it through the human body. We studied the fluid dynamics of blood vessels.
Drug delivery and nanomedicine was a big part of it, too. I got to be involved in the fundamental science behind a lot of the tools we use in medicine, and that’s something I really valued about studying it.
What inspired you to add an M.B.A. to an already demanding M.D. curriculum?
Between engineering and pre-med, there wasn’t much room to learn business, even though it’s such an important part of medicine. Whether you’re running a research lab, building a private practice or keeping a hospital fully staffed and functioning, none of that happens without understanding how to manage people and resources.
Business doesn’t come naturally to me, so this felt like the right time to fix that, especially in a four-year program instead of the five most schools require.
You’ve mentioned pediatric ophthalmology as a specialty you’re drawn to. What’s behind that interest, and how does the Miller School fit in?
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is such a strong institution, especially in research, and that’s a big part of what pulled me here. There are a couple of dedicated research-year programs for students interested in pediatric ophthalmology specifically. I’m also fascinated by the physics behind vision, what actually governs how we see, and ophthalmology feels like a natural place to apply that.
My own lab research at Johns Hopkins was in pharmaceutical treatments for atherosclerosis, which sounds unrelated, but the blood vessels of the retina are central to a lot of retinal disease, so I think that background will translate more directly than people might expect.
Beyond the academics, what else drew you to Miller School specifically?
The size and range of the hospital system. At Jackson Health System, you see cases you simply won’t encounter elsewhere. I shadowed a pediatric GI physician at Holtz Children’s, and bowel resections in children, which most places see rarely, were happening almost daily. She’d tell me, ‘This isn’t something you’re going to see in many other places, and that’s exactly why patients come here.’ Pair that with the VA and UHealth Tower, and you’re exposed to nearly every patient population imaginable.
What are you most excited about as you start this journey?
Honestly, it’s hard to answer, because there’s so much I don’t know yet. I could say I’m excited for rotations or getting to know patients or meeting the doctors I’ll be learning from, and I am. But if I’m being truthful, I don’t really know what’s coming, and that unknown is part of what makes it exciting.
Every time I’ve had a new experience related to medicine, it’s just kept reinforcing itself, like, this is the right path. The process is hard, and it has real challenges, but that’s part of what makes it worth doing, so I can eventually put those skills toward helping people.
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Tags: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Department of Medical Education, M.D./M.B.A. program, medical education, medical students, ophthalmology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine White Coat and Pinning Ceremony, white coat ceremony, White Coat Class of 2030