Nicholas Kenyon

Co-Director, Integrated Health Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences Center

Nicholas Kenyon, MD is a physician, scientist and expert on diseases affecting the airways and lungs. As Division Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UC Davis Health, Dr. Kenyon oversees faculty, staff and fellows providing care and conducting research on conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension and more. As a clinician, Dr. Kenyon specializes in treating patients with severe or complex asthma who don’t respond well to standard therapies.

Dr. Kenyon’s current research focus is on the relationship between asthma, L-arginine and nitric oxide. L-arginine is an amino acid that supplements nitric oxide, a gas and powerful neurotransmitter that relaxes and opens up blood vessels and airways to the lungs. L-arginine and nitric oxide play important roles in controlling lung inflammation and asthma.

Dr. Kenyon recently completed a phase II clinical trial assessing how well L-arginine decreases flare-ups in people suffering from severe asthma. Building on years of previous research in mice, Dr. Kenyon is studying how L-arginine interacts with a class of drugs called glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, which can improve the way beta-receptors in cells receive signals opening up the airways and helping people with asthma breathe easier. 

Dr. Kenyon also is working with colleagues in the Bioinstrumentation and BioMEMS Lab of Dr. Cristina Davis to develop a portable device that measures what’s in exhaled breath, to better target treatments and disease management in patients with asthma.

Dr. Kenyon is the Principal Investigator at UC Davis for PrecISE (Precision Interventions for Severe or Exacerbation-prone Asthma), a 5-year study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the forefront of innovative clinical trials on severe asthma.

To help train the next generation of physician-scientists and clinical fellows, Dr. Kenyon serves as Director of the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center Pre-doctoral Training Program, as well as Associate Director for the UC Davis Center of Comparative Respiratory Biology and Medicine and National Institutes of Health Training Program in Pulmonary Medicine.

Dr. Kenyon is the Principal Investigator at UC Davis for PrecISE (Precision Interventions for Severe or Exacerbation-prone Asthma), a 5-year study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the forefront of innovative clinical trials on severe asthma.

To help train the next generation of physician-scientists and clinical fellows, Dr. Kenyon serves as Director of the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center Pre-doctoral Training Program, as well as Associate Director for the UC Davis Center of Comparative Respiratory Biology and Medicine and National Institutes of Health Training Program in Pulmonary Medicine.

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Positions at UC Davis

Areas of Expertise

  • Airway diseases
  • Asthma
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • Metabolomics
  • Pulmonary and critical care medicine
  • Sepsis

Major Research Papers

Li JM, Chang WH, Li L, Yang DC, Hsu SW, Kenyon NJ, Chen CH. Inositol possesses antifibrotic activity and mitigates pulmonary fibrosis. Respir Res. 2023 May 16;24(1):132. doi: 10.1186/s12931-023-02421-6. PMID: 37194070; PMCID: PMC10189934. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10189934/

McCartney MM, Borras E, Rojas DE, Hicks TL, Hamera KL, Tran NK, Tham T, Juarez MM, Lopez E, Kenyon NJ, Davis CE. Predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant impacts accuracy when screening for infection using exhaled breath vapor. Commun Med (Lond). 2022 Dec 8;2(1):158. doi: 10.1038/s43856-022-00221-5. PMID: 36482179; PMCID: PMC9731983. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36482179/

McCartney MM, Borras E, Rojas DE, Hicks TL, Hamera KL, Tran NK, Tham T, Juarez MM, Lopez E, Kenyon NJ, Davis CE. Predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant impacts accuracy when screening for infection using exhaled breath vapor. Commun Med (Lond). 2022 Dec 8;2(1):158. doi: 10.1038/s43856-022-00221-5. PMID: 36482179; PMCID: PMC9731983. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36482179/

McCartney MM, Borras E, Rojas DE, Hicks TL, Hamera KL, Tran NK, Tham T, Juarez MM, Lopez E, Kenyon NJ, Davis CE. Predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant impacts accuracy when screening for infection using exhaled breath vapor. Commun Med (Lond). 2022 Dec 8;2(1):158. doi: 10.1038/s43856-022-00221-5. PMID: 36482179; PMCID: PMC9731983. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36482179/

Trinh NN, Simms LA, Chew BS, Weinstein A, La Saponara V, McCartney MM, Kenyon NJ, Davis CE. Glass-to-Glass Fusion Bonding Quality and Strength Evaluation with Time, Applied Force, and Heat. Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Nov 2;13(11):1892. doi: 10.3390/mi13111892. PMID: 36363914; PMCID: PMC9695810. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36363914/

Education and Degree(s)
  • MAS, Clinical Research, UC Davis, Davis, California, 2007
  • Fellowship, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento CA, 1998-2001
  • Residency, Internal Medicine, University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, Madison, Wisconsin, 1994-1998
  • MD, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, 1994
  • BA, English, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 1988
  • BA, Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 1988
Honors and Awards
  • Association of American Medical Colleges Award for Innovative Institutional Partnerships in Research and Research-Focused Training (2013)
  • Joan Oettinger Memorial Research Award (2012)
  • Outstanding Teaching Award, Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine Fellows (2008)
  • Paper of the Year Award, Society of Toxicology, Inhalation and Respiration Section (2007)
  • UC Davis, Department of Internal Medicine, Outstanding Faculty Teacher Award (2005)
  • American College of Chest Physicians, Affiliate's Case Presentation Award (2000)