He is The Gompf Family Professor at the Johns Hopkins University and was formerly a board member of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Before his appointment at Johns Hopkins, Hernandez spent 20 years as a faculty member at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he became a full professor.

[4] He attended Princeton University, where he earned an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and mathematics in 1989.

[5] After serving on the chemistry faculty at Georgia Tech for 20 years, Hernandez moved to Johns Hopkins University in 2016.

[6] Hernandez describes his area of study as "the interplay between molecular motions — such as reactions or rearrangements — and changes in their environments".