One in every 13 Americans suffers from asthma. UArizona Regents’ Professor, Dr. Fernando Martinez, also a former director of the BIO5 Institute, describes how witnessing his mother’s asthma attack ignited his passion to research and treat patients with this condition. The Director of the Asthma & Airway Disease Research Center shares what the buzzwords “transdisciplinary” and “innovation” mean to him, and how he keeps both of these factors in mind when studying genetic and environmental interactions when thinking about potential treatments and a cure for asthma.