Dr. Fernandez’s research focuses on a wide range of risky behavior and mental health topics with a special focus on suicide and substance abuse, including opioid-related healthcare utilization. Dr. Fernandez has over 20 articles appearing in well-respected journals such as the the International Economic Review, The Journal of Economic Education, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and Health Service Research Journal. He has appeared in over 100 local, regional, and national media interviews including NPR’s Planet Money and the Indicator.

Dr. Fernandez is a faculty scholar at the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky, a member of the Statutory Committee Consensus Forecasting Group for the State of Kentucky, the former President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists, the Co Chair of the Committee on Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession of the American Economic Association, and the chair of the Economics Department at the University of Louisville.