About
Biography
As a molecular epidemiologist, I am engaged in researching pediatric allergic diseases. My special interests include asthma and food allergy, allergic disease progression, and the genomic and environmental contributions to allergic diseases in children. I was drawn to these research areas after growing up with seasonal allergies and asthma, and by my love of pediatric research.
In the Biagini Lab, our long-term goals are to improve the health of children by conducting research that advances the field of asthma and allergic disease research by investigating the interplay of genetics with environmental exposures. We are also studying the mechanisms underlying the progression of disease from food allergy to asthma and the biology underlying severe asthma in children.
We recently published the Pediatric Asthma Risk Score (PARS), which is the first continuous risk score for asthma in children. It relies on factors that are routinely collected in the assessment of a child being evaluated for allergy, asthma or both. It is superior to the traditional Asthma Predictive Index (API) with an 11% increase in sensitivity due to improved prediction in children with mild-to-moderate asthma risk.
I am an elected member to the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology and a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Asthma. I began my career in 2001 and joined the Cincinnati Children’s team in 2008.
BS: Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, 2001.
MS: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 2004.
PhD: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 2008.
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2008-2011.
Research Areas
Publications
A Pediatric Asthma Risk Score to better predict asthma development in young children. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2019; 143:1803-1810.e2.
Race-Specific and Race-Neutral Equations for Lung Function and Asthma Diagnosis in Black Children. JAMA Network Open. 2025; 8:e2462176.
Joint genotype and ancestry analysis identify novel loci associated with atopic dermatitis in African American population. Human Genetics and Genomics Advances. 2024; 5:100350.
Progressive accumulation of hyperinflammatory NKG2Dlow NK cells in early childhood severe atopic dermatitis. Science immunology. 2024; 9:eadd3085.
Regulation of MYC by CARD14 in human epithelium is a determinant of epidermal homeostasis and disease. Cell Reports. 2024; 43:114589.
Filaggrin loss-of-function variants are associated with atopic dermatitis phenotypes in a diverse, early-life prospective cohort. JCI insight. 2024; 9:e178258.
Birth outcomes in relation to neighborhood food access and individual food insecurity during pregnancy in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)-wide cohort study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2024; 119:1216-1226.
What allergists/immunologists can do to limit the effects of air pollution on asthma and allergies. Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. 2024; 132:421-422.
The key roles of thrombin and fibrinogen in human infant and mice atopic dermatitis models. Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2024; 79:239-242.
Temporal relationships between Staphylococcus aureus colonization, filaggrin expression, and pediatric atopic dermatitis. Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2024; 79:104-115.
From the Blog
Omitting Race from Lung Function Equations Increases Detection of Asthma in Black Children
Jocelyn M. Biagini, PhD, Gurjit "Neeru" Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD2/28/2025
Asthma Risk Score Tool Performs Well Across Diverse Populations
Jocelyn M. Biagini, PhD, Gurjit "Neeru" Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD8/11/2023
Compromised Skin Outweighs Inheritance as Allergy Risk
Jocelyn M. Biagini, PhD2/18/2020
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