Dr. Hahn is a family physician with advanced research training in epidemiology, medical microbiology & immunology, and clinical trial design. Dr. Hahn has been performing primary care practice-based research (PBR) into infectious causes for asthma since the late 1980s. Primary care PBR is research done in partnership with practicing clinicians in communities and the patients they serve to address problems that most patients have, most of the time.

Asthma is a common condition in people of all ages. Experts agree that “the root cause for asthma is inflammation” and that “there is no cure for asthma.” Current treatments are palliative, not curative (i.e., they suppress or “control” asthma symptoms only as long as they are taken).

Dr. Hahn has published over 50 peer reviewed articles, book chapters, invited commentaries and correspondence challenging current expert opinion by proposing the “infectious asthma (IA)” hypothesis: some asthma (the most severe type) is causally associated with chronic lung infections (such as Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae) that are treatable with appropriate courses of certain antibiotics. The IA hypothesis opens the door for further research into asthma treatment, cure and even prevention.