Jonathan Witonsky, MD, MAS

Dr. Jonathan Witonsky is an allergist and immunologist who cares for children and adolescents with atopic diseases, including atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and food allergy. His research interests lie in the application of clinical, socioenvironmental, and genomic data to predict asthma-related outcomes among pediatric populations facing a disproportionate burden of the condition. Dr. Witonsky earned his medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in allergy and immunology at UCSF.
Education
06/2022 - Allergy and Immunology Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco
MAS, 06/2022 - Clinical Research, University of California, San Francisco
06/2019 - Pediatrics Residency, University of California, San Francisco
MD, 05/2017 - Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Honors and Awards
  • Catalyst Award, American Lung Association, 2023-2024
  • Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Program Award, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH, 2023-2024
  • Training in Clinical Research Master’s Program Outstanding Thesis Award, University of California, San Francisco, 2022
  • Clinical Research Informatics Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco, 2021-2023
  • Clinical Pharmacology Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco, 2020-2021
  • Distinction in Research in Translational Science, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 2017
  • Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 2016

  1. Konishi S, Enkhbayar K, Liu S, Miyashita N, Kobayashi Y, Hutchison V, Sai A, Agarwal P, Witonsky J, Jackson ND, Seibold MA, Chen J, Tata A, Tata PR. TP53/TAU axis regulates microtubule bundling to control alveolar stem cell mediated regeneration. Volume 136 of Issue 7. The Journal of clinical investigation 2026. PMID: 41642658


  2. Wu B, Yang M, Hu D, Hochstadt S, Lee BH, Lanfear DE, Witonsky J, Stemmer P, Burchard EG, Ziv E, Williams LK. Distinct blood transcriptomic profiling underlying asthma establishment and exacerbation. Volume 5 of Issue 2. The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global 2026. PMID: 41660047


  3. Moore CM, Secor EA, Fairbanks-Mahnke A, Everman JL, Elhawary JR, Witonsky JI, Pruesse E, Chang CH, Contreras MG, Eng C, Canales K, Rosado T, Hu D, Huntsman S, Jackson ND, Li Y, Lopez N, Valentin AM, Medina V, Montanez-Lopez CA, Morin A, Nieves NA, Oh SS, Otero RA, Colon R, Rodriguez L, Sajuthi SP, Salazar S, Serrano G, Morales EV, Vazquez G, Morales NV, Williams BJM, Zhang P, Sheppard D, Santana JRR, Seibold MA. Independent and interactive effects of viral species on early-life lower respiratory tract illness. Volume 91 of Issue 4. The Journal of infection 2025. PMID: 41015263


  4. Gorla A, Witonsky J, Chen ZJ, Elhawary JR, Mefford J, Perez-Garcia J, Madore AM, Huntsman S, Hu D, Eng C, Bhakta NR, Woodruff PG, Laprise C, Sankararaman S, Flint J, Allen CDC, Ziv E, Zaitlen N, Burchard E, Rahmani E. Epigenetic patient stratification reveals a sub-endotype of type 2 asthma with altered B-cell response. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2025. PMID: 40950420


  5. Martin-Gonzalez E, Perez-Garcia J, Martin-Almeida M, Witonsky J, Eng C, Huntsman S, Hu D, Lorenzo-Diaz F, González-Pérez R, Hernández-Pérez JM, Poza-Guedes P, Sardón-Prado O, Sánchez-Machín I, Mederos-Luis E, Corcuera-Elosegui P, Villar J, Rodriguez-Santana J, Ziv E, Burchard EG, Pino-Yanes M. Multi-Ancestry Epigenome-Wide Association Study of Asthma Exacerbations. Volume 81 of Issue 1. Allergy 2025. PMID: 40823785


  6. Baojun Wu, PhD, Mao Yang, MS, Donglei Hu, PhD, Ray Zhang, Bin Liu, PhD, MPH, Samantha Hochstadt, MS, David E. Lanfear, MD, MS, Jonathan Witonsky, MD, MAS, Rajesh Kumar, MD, MS, Jill A. Hollenbach, PhD, MPH, Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH, Elad Ziv, MD, and L. Keoki Williams, MD, MPH, MBA. HLA variation associated with peanut allergy and anaphylaxis among non-Hispanic Black individuals JACI: Global 2025. PMID:


  7. Zhang R, Liu B, Yang M, Wu B, Hochstadt S, Lanfear DE, Witonsky J, Kumar R, Burchard EG, Ziv E, Williams LK. Socioenvironmental factors associated with shrimp allergy and shrimp sensitization in a large and diverse patient population and cohort study from metropolitan Detroit. Volume 4 of Issue 3. The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global 2025. PMID: 40502543


  8. Wu B, Yang M, Hu D, Zhang R, Liu B, Hochstadt S, Lanfear DE, Witonsky J, Kumar R, Hollenbach JA, Burchard EG, Ziv E, Williams LK. HLA variation associated with peanut allergy and anaphylaxis among non-Hispanic Black individuals. Volume 4 of Issue 3. The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global 2025. PMID: 40476093


  9. Neumann A, Sammallahti S, Cosin-Tomas M, Reese SE, Suderman M, Alemany S, Almqvist C, Andrusaityte S, Arshad SH, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Beilin L, Breton C, Bustamante M, Czamara D, Dabelea D, Eng C, Eskenazi B, Fuemmeler BF, Gilliland FD, Grazuleviciene R, Håberg SE, Herberth G, Holland N, Hough A, Hu D, Huen K, Hüls A, Jarvelin MR, Jin J, Julvez J, Koletzko BV, Koppelman GH, Kull I, Lu X, Maitre L, Mason D, Melén E, Merid SK, Molloy PL, Mori TA, Mulder RH, Page CM, Richmond RC, Röder S, Ross JP, Schellhas L, Sebert S, Sheppard D, Snieder H, Starling AP, Stein DJ, Tindula G, van IJzendoorn MH, Vonk J, Walton E, Witonsky J, Xu CJ, Yang IV, Yousefi PD, Zar HJ, Zenclussen AC, Zhang H, Tiemeier H, London SJ, Felix JF, Cecil C. Epigenetic timing effects on child developmental outcomes: a longitudinal meta-regression of findings from the Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics Consortium. Volume 17 of Issue 1. Genome medicine 2025. PMID: 40229801


  10. Witonsky JI, Elhawary JR, Eng C, Oh SS, Salazar S, Contreras MG, Medina V, Secor EA, Zhang P, Everman JL, Fairbanks-Mahnke A, Pruesse E, Sajuthi SP, Chang CH, Guerrero TR, Fuentes KC, Lopez N, Montañez-López CA, Morales EV, Morales NV, Otero RA, Rivera RC, Rodriguez L, Vazquez G, Hu D, Huntsman S, Jackson ND, Li Y, Morin A, Nieves NA, Rios C, Serrano G, Williams BJM, Ziv E, Moore CM, Sheppard D, Burchard EG, Seibold MA, Rodríguez-Santana JR. The PRIMERO birth cohort: Design and baseline characteristics. Volume 4 of Issue 3. The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global 2025. PMID: 40486693


  11. Moore CM, Secor EA, Fairbanks-Mahnke A, Everman JL, Elhawary JR, Witonsky JI, Pruesse E, Chang CH, Contreras MG, Eng C, Canales K, Rosado T, Hu D, Huntsman S, Jackson ND, Li Y, Lopez N, Valentin AM, Medina V, Montanez-Lopez CA, Morin A, Nieves NA, Oh SS, Otero RA, Colon R, Rodriguez L, Sajuthi SP, Salazar S, Serrano G, Morales EV, Vazquez G, Morales NV, Williams BJM, Zhang P, Sheppard D, Rodriguez Santana JR, Seibold MA. Independent and interactive effects of viral species on risk for lower respiratory tract illnesses in early life. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2025. PMID: 40061332


  12. Gorla A, Witonsky J, Elhawary JR, Chen ZJ, Mefford J, Perez-Garcia J, Huntsman S, Hu D, Eng C, Woodruff PG, Sankararaman S, Ziv E, Flint J, Zaitlen N, Burchard E, Rahmani E. Epigenetic patient stratification via contrastive machine learning refines hallmark biomarkers in minoritized children with asthma. Research square 2024. PMID: 39315258


  13. Diao JA, He Y, Khazanchi R, Nguemeni Tiako MJ, Witonsky JI, Pierson E, Rajpurkar P, Elhawary JR, Melas-Kyriazi L, Yen A, Martin AR, Levy S, Patel CJ, Farhat M, Borrell LN, Cho MH, Silverman EK, Burchard EG, Manrai AK. Implications of Race Adjustment in Lung-Function Equations. Volume 390 of Issue 22. The New England journal of medicine 2024. PMID: 38767252


  14. Witonsky J, Burchard EG. Race/Ethnicity and Clinical Prediction Algorithms for Childhood Asthma. Volume 2 of Issue 10. NEJM evidence 2023. PMID: 38320186


  15. Witonsky J, Elhawary JR, Millette LA, Holweg CTJ, Ko J, Raut P, Borrell LN. Similar response to omalizumab in children with allergic asthma from different racial backgrounds. Volume 11 of Issue 9. The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. In practice 2023. PMID: 37088376


  16. Bhakta NR, Bime C, Kaminsky DA, McCormack MC, Thakur N, Stanojevic S, Baugh AD, Braun L, Lovinsky-Desir S, Adamson R, Witonsky J, Wise RA, Levy SD, Brown R, Forno E, Cohen RT, Johnson M, Balmes J, Mageto Y, Lee CT, Masekela R, Weiner DJ, Irvin CG, Swenson ER, Rosenfeld M, Schwartzstein RM, Agrawal A, Neptune E, Wisnivesky JP, Ortega VE, Burney P. Race and Ethnicity in Pulmonary Function Test Interpretation: An Official American Thoracic Society Statement. Volume 207 of Issue 8. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2023. PMID: 36973004


  17. Witonsky J, Elhawary JR, Eng C, Rodríguez-Santana JR, Borrell LN, Burchard EG. Genetic Ancestry to Improve Precision of Race/Ethnicity-based Lung Function Equations in Children. Volume 205 of Issue 6. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2022. PMID: 35085059


  18. Witonsky J, Elhawary JR, Eng C, Rodríguez-Santana JR, Borrell LN, Burchard EG. Race- and Ethnicity-Based Spirometry Reference Equations: Are They Accurate for Genetically Admixed Children? Volume 162 of Issue 1. Chest 2022. PMID: 35033507


  19. Wohlford EM, Huang PF, Elhawary JR, Millette LA, Contreras MG, Witonsky J, Holweg CTJ, Oh SS, Lee C, Merenda C, Rabin RL, Araojo R, Mak ACY, Eng CS, Hu D, Huntsman S, LeNoir MA, Rodríguez-Santana JR, Borrell LN, Burchard EG. Racial/ethnic differences in eligibility for asthma biologics among pediatric populations. Volume 148 of Issue 5. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology 2021. PMID: 34536416


  20. Borrell LN, Elhawary JR, Fuentes-Afflick E, Witonsky J, Bhakta N, Wu AHB, Bibbins-Domingo K, Rodríguez-Santana JR, Lenoir MA, Gavin JR, Kittles RA, Zaitlen NA, Wilkes DS, Powe NR, Ziv E, Burchard EG. Race and Genetic Ancestry in Medicine - A Time for Reckoning with Racism. The New England journal of medicine 2021. PMID: 33406325


  21. Witonsky J, Abraham R, Toh J, Desai T, Shum M, Rosenstreich D, Jariwala SP. The association of environmental, meteorological, and pollen count variables with asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations in the Bronx. Volume 56 of Issue 9. The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma 2018. PMID: 30207818


  22. Zeiger AM, White MJ, Eng C, Oh SS, Witonsky J, Goddard PC, Contreras MG, Elhawary JR, Hu D, Mak ACY, Lee EY, Keys KL, Samedy LA, Risse-Adams O, Magaña J, Huntsman S, Salazar S, Davis A, Meade K, Brigino-Buenaventura E, LeNoir MA, Farber HJ, Bibbins-Domingo K, Borrell LN, Burchard EG. Genetic Determinants of Telomere Length in African American Youth. Volume 8 of Issue 1. Scientific Reports 2018. PMID: 30185882


  23. International HapMap Consortium. A haplotype map of the human genome. Volume 437 of Issue 7063. Nature 2005. PMID: 16255080