2020 Pilot Grant Awardee, Johns Hopkins
Kristina Montemayor is an Instructor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Co-founder of Pulm PEEPs. You can find them on X at @PulmPEEPs. Their mission is to provide multiple formats to learn pulmonary and critical care medicine. Dr. Montemayor graduated from the University of Texas Health Science at San Antonio with a degree in nursing prior to graduating medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. She pursued her Internal Medicine Residency at Johns Hopkins and completed her Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship from Johns Hopkins in 2020. Dr. Montemayor’s clinical interests are investigating sex and gender differences in cystic fibrosis. While researchers have shown that females with CF have worse morbidity and mortality compared to males, Dr. Montemayor’s research is focused on understanding the association of sex hormones on respiratory outcomes in women with CF with the goal to identify potential therapeutic strategies to tailor individualized care and improve outcomes in women with CF.
Awarded: $60,000
What is Dr. Kristina Montemayor studying?
Cystic Fibrosis, a fatal lung condition
Why study Cystic Fibrosis?
This is a congenital disease that produces thick, viscous secretions in many tissues, including the lungs. The typical patient develops multisystem disease and the average life span is about 47 years. With the development of specialized interventions that affect the specific membrane defect that makes the disease lethal, increasing numbers of patients are considering pregnancy.
What did Dr. Kristina Montemayor find?
Doctor Montemayor has surveyed the attitudes of healthcare professionals about pregnancy in women with CF and encourages early and frequent counseling of patients who want to have children; education about treatment of the disease during pregnancy is important including the important area of maternal-fetal interactions to therapy. Her work has emphasized the negative impact of air pollution on the disease. Risk for hospitalization increased to almost 42% in patients exposed to indoor air pollution from secondhand smoke, forced hot air, wood stove and fireplace. She has also investigated the reasons females have worse lung disease than males with the disease; since both sexes receive the same level and nature of treatment, she urges investigation of why the response of women is less satisfactory.
How did The Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine’s grant help Dr. Montemayor’s research?
Doctor Montemayor is a recognized authority in the field of cystic fibrosis, particularly concentrating on the sex differences in the experience of this disorder. She has published major papers reviewing the status and treatment of patients with CF.
What is Dr. Montemayor’s current status?
She continues to work in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she continues her work on caring for critically ill patients in the intensive care unit.