Robert Hernandez aims to educate and engage in practice-driven research to address critical areas of society that continue to hinder communities from flourishing. His areas of interest include vulnerable youth populations, adolescent social issues, adolescent gang intervention, strength-based/resiliency and youth empowerment models of practice. In particular, Hernandez's work examines risk and protective factors within communities that are associated with vulnerable youth populations residing in trauma exposed communities.

His focus is on advancing marginalized populations through a wide-range of practice approaches addressing violence-related trauma through violence reduction, prevention, intervention, diversion, and reentry strategies. His area of emphasis is exploring violence related-trauma due to urbanization and rapid development and its impact on healthy youth development as well as the implications on urban communities as a whole. Hernandez has a proven track record in building community coalitions and providing technical assistance and support to community-based organizations with their violence reduction, youth development, youth diversion and reentry efforts.

Hernandez is the current chair of Congressional District 29’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Council. In addition, He is the founder and Board Chair of Visionary Youth Los Angeles (VYLA) a non-profit organization which centers youth voices for change. 

In 2023, and 2014, Hernandez was awarded the highly acclaimed Jane Adams Award at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work that goes to the instructor of the year as voted by the students. In 2014, he was recognized and awarded by the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly & Academic Culture Assembly as the Most Influential Professor of Color.