Speakers

Dr Angier is committed to improving allergy care across the health system with an emphasis on quality primary care. The framework for GPs with extended roles in allergy that she has led on will support that work. She currently combines her work of primary care and virtual ward lead within an integrated care system with research and primary care work. She is a part time PhD candidate at Southampton University. The thesis title is “Supporting self-management for young people with food allergy at risk of anaphylaxis: developing digital resources”. The PhD is funded by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. She has been a previous chair of the British Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy primary care group, and chair of the allied health and primary care group at the European Academy of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. She enjoys teaching, lecturing and podcasting and has a particular interest in young people and anaphylaxis. She has regularly contributed towards clinical guidelines with the BSACI or EAACI. She has worked with NICE on quality standards and WONCA on establishing their special interest group in allergy. She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management and enjoys different system leadership roles within the NHS.

Sarah is a health professional with over 40 years of experience working in the NHS as a Children’s Nurse, Health Visitor and latterly as an Executive Director in Community Health Trusts.

Sarah leads the health agenda for Anaphylaxis UK working with the charity’s Clinical and Scientific panel to ensure patients receive the most up to date and evidenced based information about serious allergies and anaphylaxis.

Sarah brings a personal perspective of allergies to Anaphylaxis UK as she has multiple food allergies and carries adrenaline, which enables her to appreciate the physical and psychological aspects of serious allergy and anaphylaxis for both children and their families.

Surinder Birring is Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Consultant Respiratory Physician at King’s College Hospital, London (specialist clinics in ILD, Cough and Sarcoidosis). His research focuses on the assessment and treatment of cough and the development of disease specific quality of life measures. As a British Lung Foundation Fellow in 2001, he studied the cellular mechanisms of unexplained cough and continued his work as a Senior Fellow in Sydney in 2006. He has published over 250 papers, reviews and book chapters and is author of American, British and European Cough clinical guidelines. He has been the chief investigator of numerous multi-centre clinical trials. His team developed the widely used quality of life questionnaires, Leicester Cough Questionnaire, King’s Brief Interstitial Lung Disease (KBILD) and King’s Sarcoidosis Questionnaires (KSQ). Dr Birring is also co-developer of the Leicester Cough Monitor.

Dr Boyle is a paediatric allergist at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington and undertakes research and teaching at Imperial College London. He trained in allergy at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, where his PhD investigated the mechanisms through which dietary interventions may prevent eczema. He has conducted several clinical trials and evidence synthesis projects in relation to the primary prevention of eczema and food allergy. These have focussed on both dietary and non-dietary interventions, and have influenced allergy prevention guidelines internationally. His current focus is trying to identify variations in infant skincare practice which might prevent eczema or food allergy from developing. Dr Boyle is a senior editor for Cochrane, joint editor in chief of the BSACI journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy and a member of two nutrition committees which provide advice to the UK Department of Health and Social Care.

Helen Brough is a Consultant in Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at the Evelina Children’s Hospital, St. Thomas’ Hospital, and has been Head of Service for the Children’s Allergy Service since 2015. She is also an Honorary Professor of Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London.

Helen is the President of the Allergy and Immunology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine (2022-2024). She was the Chair of the Paediatric Section for the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and represented Paediatric Allergy for the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases (2019-2022). She co-authored the 2022 European guidelines for the management of atopic eczema. She was awarded the 2020 Distinguished Clinician Award by the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (AAAAI).

Helen’s research interests are in genetic and environmental risk factors for the development of food allergy and the prevention, diagnosis and management of food allergy. She is a Principal Investigator for the Stopping Eczema and Allergy (SEAL) study assessing whether proactive skin care in young infants with dry skin or eczema prevents the development of food allergy. She completed her MSc at the University of Southampton and her PhD at King’s College London.

Silvia Bulfone-Paus is an immunologist, who studied medicine at the University of Turin, where she graduated in 1989. She then studied genetics at Yale University (PhD: 1994). Her first faculty appointment was at the Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Immunology, Germany (1998). In 2000, she was appointed Full Professor at the University of Lübeck and Director of the Department of Immunology and Cell Biology at the Research Centre Borstel in Germany. As a secondary appointment (20%), she joined the University of Manchester in 2009 as Professor of Immunobiology at the Dermatology Centre, which became her primary academic affiliation in 2013. In 2018, she became a member of the Lydia Becker Institute for Immunology and Inflammation.

Sarah Burrell is a senior research nurse at the Children’s Clinical Research Facility at St. Mary’s Hospital Paddington where she leads a growing team of research nurses within the food allergy research group. She oversees the delivery of multiple clinical trials on peanut and milk immunotherapy and is currently completing a project looking at patient experiences in peanut oral immunotherapy.

Sarah trained as an adult intensive care nurse and respiratory specialist nurse before starting her research career, with a focus on respiratory and allergy studies. She was awarded the Jill Warner Prize on completion of her Allergy MSc (Imperial College London) in recognition of delivering a project with a significant impact on patient care. In particular, she is passionate about Patient Public Involvement (PPI) in the research process, being awarded the NIHR Excellence in PPI and Engagement prize (BOPI study) at the North West London Clinical Research Awards 2021. She also has extensive experience in clinical and primary care research in the UK and other healthcare systems. Another particular interest Sarah is in exploring strategies to enable clinical nurses to become involved in clinical research so that there is a greater awareness of the value of research and innovation among staff.

Lydia Collins-Hussey is a Paediatric Allergy Dietitian and works at AllergyUK as a Clinical Dietetic Advisor as well as running her own private practice. Lydia has a passion for education and is part of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Paediatric Allergy Training Faculty and a facilitator for the British Dietetic Association (BDA) CMPA course as well as teaching on the MSc Nutrition programs at Glasgow and Surrey University. She sits on the committee for the Food Allergy Specialist Group (FASG) and is a member of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and BSACI. In 2019, Lydia won the Barry Kay Award (Allied Health) for her work in CMPA in NHS Grampian and in 2021 won the BDA Paediatric Research Award for her MSc dissertation in CMPA and telehealth.

Stephen Durham is Professor of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine and Head of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. He is Honorary Consultant Physician at Royal Brompton Hospital London. His research interests include allergic rhinitis and asthma and translational studies of allergen immunotherapy. He is Past President of the BSACI (2006-09) and elected Fellow of EAACI in 2021. He is a member of the Steering Committee (2005- ongoing) and chaired the Allergy and Asthma Interest Group (2012-2020) of the Immune Tolerance Network, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, USA.

Pamela Ewan is one of the leading allergists in the UK. In 1988 she started the Allergy Department and the allergy research program in Cambridge. Pam is experienced in all aspects of clinical allergy. Her special interests are nut allergy, anaphylaxis and venom allergy. She has a large clinical experience in nut allergy built up over 25 years and her research has led to better understanding of this condition and to improvements in patient care. Pam is proud to have received a national prize in 2014 – the William Frankland Award for clinical excellence; and the Jack Pepys Award.

She developed an effective collaboration with Dr Andrew Clark, and they most recently developed a programme of desensitisation to treat peanut allergy and this led to the establishment in 2014 of the Cambridge Peanut Allergy Clinic. In various national roles she worked to highlight the need for allergy care and to improve NHS allergy services, for which she was awarded CBE. She is co-founder and until recently chair of the National Allergy Strategy Group and a past President of the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

Adam read Medicine at Cambridge University. From 2006, he spent 9 years as clinical lead for Allergy (Adult & Paediatric) at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals, London. After 3 years as Clinical Director for Specialist Ambulatory Medicine, he took up the post of Deputy Medical Director (Commercial) for Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2018. He is also a Professor of Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London and the founding Director of the KCL Allergy Academy, a postgraduate educational programme, which was a finalist at the BMJ Awards in 2018.

Adam was elected as BSACI President, the first Paediatrician to hold this position, from October 2018 until 2021 and is now Chair of the National Allergy Strategy Group.

Adam was awarded ‘Paediatric Allergist of the Year’ from Allergy UK in 2007. His doctoral thesis on peanut allergy received the Raymond Horton Smith prize from Cambridge University in 2012 and he was included in The Times ‘Britain’s 100 Best Children’s Doctor’s’.  Adam received the William Frankland Award for Outstanding contribution to Allergy in 2015 and a Department of Health National Clinical Excellence award from the in 2016 and 2020.

Claudia Gore is a consultant in paediatric allergy and lead for the adolescent allergy service at St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London.

Clinically, she has specific expertise in caring for children and young people with complex multisystem allergic disease and severe eczema and in providing as well as expanding services for allergic adolescents.

Her research background includes the role of probiotics and the gut microbiota in infant eczema, quality of life in allergic diseases, nutrition in allergic disease, allergen avoidance measures, eczema treatments and diagnostics.

Claudia is an active contributor to the EAACI Adolescent Taskforce and is the Paediatric Chair of the BSACI Transition Working Group – all aimed at improving healthcare transition for adolescents and young adults with allergic conditions.

These activities support the improvement of care for adolescents and young adults with allergic and other conditions through innovative ways of engaging patients, families, educators, health and care staff:
www.11to25hub.com

Patient Voices: Terrific Teens!

Robin Gore is a consultant respiratory physician. Having trained in respiratory medicine in the North-west of England, he worked in Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Hertfordshire, and then settled at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

His clinical and research interests are focused on severe asthma, aeroallergen exposure and its relationship with allergic disease activity, and optimizing networked care for patients with severe asthma through the east of England severe asthma network.

Dr Grattan has worked as a consultant at St John’s Institute of Dermatology since 1995. He has a special interest in cutaneous allergy, including mast cell disorders.

Dorothea has been a senior specialist nurse for allergy and clinical immunology at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London since 2002. She completed her general nurse training at St. Marien Hospital, Bottrop, Germany in 1989. She studied for her post-graduate qualifications in London, where she completed a Good Clinical Practice Course, BSc and a Post Graduate Diploma. She has been the Treasurer of the International Nursing Group for Immunodeficiencies and the Immunology and Allergy Nurse Group UK. She has co-authored a number of peer-reviewed articles on the role of immunoglobulins in allergies, including replacement therapy.

Dr Hayat has been a Consultant Gastroenterologist since September 2014 having trained at Imperial College School of Medicine, before completing his basic medical training in the Oxford deanery. He then returned to London to complete his specialist gastroenterology training. During this period he undertook an MD research degree into the use of advanced diagnostic techniques in Upper GI disease. His work has been presented at the American Gastroenterology Association, United European Gastroenterology Association and the British Society of Gastroenterology. He runs a specialist clinic for patients with oesophageal disorders including gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, oesophageal motility disorders including achalasia, Barrett’s oesophagus and eosinophilic oesophagitis.   He is a specialist advisor for NICE on Gastro-Oesophageal reflux Disease and is a Principal Investigator in the UK for the first licensed treatment for Eosinophilic Oesophagitis and is a co-author for the BSG guidelines on eosinophilic oesophagitis.

Fiona Henley has worked as a Paediatric asthma clinical nurse specialist at Evelina London Children’s hospital since 2018. Prior to this she worked as an asthma nurse specialist at St Georges NHS foundation Trust and as a Paediatric allergy nurse specialist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. At the Evelina her day to day role is both clinical and admin working across both inpatient and outpatient settings. She manages chronic wheeze and asthma from primary/secondary care level all the way up to the difficult asthmatics being worked up for biologics. Fiona runs nurse led asthma clinics as well as supporting consultant clinics both in person and virtually as well as day case reviews. She also ensures safe discharges and education for children and families during an acute admission providing the tools needed to prevent future admissions and successfully manage their asthma. A large part cof Fiona’s role is education – both to children and families and other professionals within the trust and in the local network. She frequently teaches at GP’s, conferences, allergy academy study days, medical student teaching sessions and lots of in-house teaching for colleagues including inductions.

Professor Judith Holloway is Professorial Fellow in Allergy and programme lead for the University of Southampton’s MSc Allery at the University of Southampton. As a patient with severe allergies herself, Judith is passionate about providing education that empowers her healthcare professional students to be able to improve their patient care, clinical services and become the allergy leaders of the future. She completed her doctorate with Professor Sir Stephen Holgate and postdoctoral studies with Professor John Warner. In 2007 Judith was appointed Programme Lead of the MSc Allergy and awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award in 2010 and 2018 for her work on the MSc Allergy programme. She became a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2014 and in 2017, her education in allergy was recognised by the internationally acclaimed award of National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Prof Holloway’s MSc Allergy course is recognised worldwide and is part of Southampton Allergy Centre, a World Allergy Organisation (WAO) Centre of Excellence. Prof Holloway leads the BSACI Allergy Education Network and chaired the first ever BSACI National Allergy Education Strategy which was published in October 2021

Hannah is a specialist adult allergy dietitian at Guy’s Hospital in London where she has worked since 2013. Her undergraduate training was at King’s College London and she completed the MSc Allergy at Imperial College London in 2017 with the Dean’s Award.

Her clinical practice is combined with research and specific interests include adult oral immunotherapy, the dietary management of eosinophilic oesophagitis and investigation of emerging food allergens such as mycoprotein.

She is Treasurer for the Food Allergy Specialist Group (FASG) of the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and dietetic representative for the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI).

Dr Nicola Jay has worked as a consultant paediatric allergist at Sheffield Childrens Hospital for 15 years. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of London and has worked in paediatrics across the Midlands and Yorkshire. Nicola has a Masters in Healthcare Leadership (University of Birmingham/Manchester) and Diploma in Medical Ethics (Keele University). She is also a Deputy Medical Director for NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB supporting cross organisational working to improve health outcomes. Her research interests are access to care and healthcare literacy, drug allergy delabelling and supported the research offer of food immunotherapy. She has been the RCPCH Officer for Workforce and Health Delivery, CYP Clinical Lead for South Yorkshire ICB, AMD System Transformation NHSE Midlands and Vice Chair of the Yorkshire & Humber Clinical Senate giving impartial advice for service reorganisation. Success for Nicola would be an inclusive service offer that is equitable and reduces health inequalities and she currently support the EDI group within the BSACI and is supporting the development of Paediatric Allergy Standards.

Dr Steve Jenkins works in Essex as Consultant physician in Respiratory medicine with an interest in allergy and severe asthma. He qualified in Newcastle, and did postgraduate training in London, including research into the effects of air pollution on atopic asthma. As a consultant, he has combined working in Respiratory and GIM in a busy DGH with setting up a comprehensive allergy service covering the full range of services including immunotherapy and drug allergy. Alongside this he runs a severe asthma clinic serving Mid and South Essex offering biologic therapy. He is chair of Respiratory Medicine for Mid and South Essex hospitals NHS Trust. Currently he sits on BSACI Council and is co-chair of the Adult Allergy Committee.

Chrissie is an Associate Professor in Clinical Health Psychology, Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS). Chrissie currently works in the Department of Psychological Interventions within the School of Psychology at the University of Surrey. Prior to joining the University of Surrey, Chrissie spent 12 years at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School starting out in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health, before moving to the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine.

Chrissie’s main research focuses on the design and evaluation of psychological and behavioural interventions for individuals and their families, with long term conditions (e.g., allergy, diabetes, and respiratory disease) and mental health comorbidities, placing strong emphasis on involving patients and public in the research she undertakes. Chrissie has expertise in multi-method evaluations and synthesising current evidence using systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Dr Maeve Kelleher MD is a Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at Childrens’ Health Ireland in Dublin since 2020. She is also an Honorary Senior Clinical lecturer at Imperial College London.   She was an NIHR Transitional Research fellowship recipient at Imperial College London 2017-2020. Her current research interests are in preventing allergies in children. She leads an international collaboration for an individual patient data meta-analysis to determine if interventions to protect the skin barrier in early infancy can prevent eczema and food allergy. She is passionate about educating parents and the public about allergic disease.

Margaret Kelman is a specialist nurse with experience in providing care to children, young people and adults with both dermatological and allergic conditions. Having studied Allergy at the University of Southampton, she has worked many roles within NHS Scotland including allergy advisor / programme manager for CYANS the Children and Young People’s Allergy Network Scotland NMCN, as well as lead nurse in the development of a unique project with the University of Edinburgh, funded by Allergy UK. To integrate research and development into everyday practice, through the development of novel nurse led allergy clinics within primary care, for which this work was awarded the Barry Kay award for excellence in allergy care and research in primary care at the BSACI conference in 2020. Margaret took up a post as specialist allergy nurse with Allergy UK in August 2020.

Alicia supports the charity’s founders Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBEs and its Board of Trustees, actioning and overseeing all the operations of the Foundation, across its three pillars: research, education, and the law. Formerly the Director of Generation Rent, she transformed the charity into an organisation which is now a significant participant in the national housing debate. This move to the third sector followed a 25-year career in politics, working with senior politicians across all levels of Government. She was made a life peer in 2012 and is non-aligned.

Dr Kate Khaleva has been working as a clinical research fellow at University of Southampton since April 2022.  Her main research interests are transitional care of patients with allergic diseases, improving diagnosis and management of childhood food allergy, patient-centred care, management of patients with severe asthma. She was awarded Distinction for MSc Allergy at Southampton University in 2019, received several scholarships and grants from European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Asthma, Allergy & Inflammation Research Charity. The results of her research have been published in high impact peer-reviewed journals including Allergy and European Respiratory Journal. Dr Khaleva has been involved in several European and International guidelines including European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Global Allergy and Asthma European Network. In view of Kate’s achievements in research and clinical practice, she was elected as a junior member representative for the Paediatric board (2022-2024) at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Trainee representative for the Allergy and Immunology Section at the Royal Society of Medicine (2023-2025). Last year she was appointed to the Editorial Board of ‘’Asthma’’ in the Frontiers in Allergy journal.

Katherine has worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Evelina Allergy Service since 2013. She is the aeroallergen immunotherapy lead for the service and specialises in allergic rhinitis, drug allergy and food allergy.

Since 2021 Katherine has also worked at the Food and Allergy Immunotherapy Clinic providing oral Immunoetahrpy to children from across the UK.

Katherine teaches on various allergy study days and leads on the community allergy training sessions. She is co- director of the Allergy Academy Allergy in Practice course and has presented at past BSAI and PAAM conferences. Katherine holds an allergy masters from Southampton University and submitted a dissertation regarding the adrenaline auto injector prescribing practice of the St Thomas’s allergy team.

Katherine is very proud of the multidisciplinary approach to allergy as well as the strong nurse led services within children’s allergy services and is keen to share her allergy knowledge and experience.

Mich is a consultant in Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at Southampton Children’s Hospital, a World Allergy Organization National Centre of Excellence. He is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton, contributes to postgraduate teaching nationally and is involved in clinical research on food allergy and immunotherapy. He is the foundation chairperson for the BSACI Registry for Immunotherapy (BRIT). Mich works part time for the NHS, is a part time hospice doctor, and self-supporting minister in the Church of England. He was ordained in 2021 and is serving his curacy in the Winchester Diocese.

Dr. Mack is a Pediatric Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Specialist. Dr. Mack is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and McMaster.  He is the Principal Investigator for Ontario Pediatric Allergy Research Corporation.  He sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and is on the Executive for the section of Allergy for the Ontario Medical Association.  He is co-author of clinical guidelines on the prevention of allergy, epinephrine and anaphylaxis for the CSACI and is the editor of first North American Manual on Oral Immunotherapy for food.  He sits on the editorial board for the Journal of Food Allergy.  Dr. Mack is co-founder of Halton Pediatric Allergy Clinic where his focus is on Oral Immunotherapy.

Ricardo trained in Madrid, Spain, as an allergist, but is now based at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, UK. He has worked in drug allergy for the last 15 years, especially in hypersensitivity to chemotherapy and biologics, and rapid drug desensitisation. He has published over 20 articles, and his PhD (cum laude) was also focused on this topic. He currently co-chairs the drug hypersensitivity reactions committee of the World Allergy Organization, and has worked on WAO Consensus Documents, EAACI Position Papers, and BSACI guidelines on drug allergy. Member of the Steering committee of the UK’s Perioperative Anaphylaxis Network. Member of the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology editorial board.

Dr Tom Marrs is a Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Allergy working in the Children’s Allergies Department at St Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College London. Tom read Medicine, Psychology and Medical Law at Cambridge University before completing his clinical training at St Bartholomew’s and Royal London Medical School. He completed his post-graduate Masters in Allergic disease at Imperial College London, gaining a distinction in particular for his work in the use of adrenaline for treating anaphylaxis. Tom joined the research team running the Enquiring About Tolerance (EAT) Study randomised control trial, assessing whether the early introduction of allergenic solids alongside breastfeeding may reduce the prevalence of food allergy amongst young children. Current research interests include the prevention of food allergy in practice and best practice for oral food immunotherapy across the NHS.

Dr R Mirakian has worked as  a Consultant in Allergy at the Addenbrookes University Hospitals  (Cambridge ) since 2005. She has also worked at the RNTNE/UCLH until 2018.

Her main allergy Interests are focused on Drug Allergy and Rhinology.

She was one of the clinicians who established the Standard of Care Committee  within the BSACI organisation aiming to develop evidence based Guidelines for the management of patients with allergies.

In 2009 she  prompted the preparation of the BSACI  Guidelines for the   ‘Management  of Drug Allergy’. This  document   was followed in 2015  by the Guideline on  ‘ The management of allergy to penicillins and other beta lactams’.

With the help of interested Clinicians she currently  aims to accomplish the preparation of evidence based tools/algorithms for the diagnosis  and treatment of NSAID hypersensitivity reactions. These reactions are the second (and possibly the first) most common  adverse drug reactions in Europe. However the diagnostic and  management processes  are not fully established.

For over 10 years Dr Mirakian has also worked within an ENT/Allergy environment and has treated patients with chronic rhinitis/rhinosinusitis. She has  been one of the Authors of the Guidelines for the management  of rhinitis/rhinosinusitis

Dr. Daniel Munblit, an alumnus of Russian State Medical University and Imperial College London, leads EU-approved COMFA project focusing on development of Core Outcome Set for food allergy. He has been strongly involved in COVID-19 research, leading the Stop COVID cohort at Sechenov University in Moscow, and co-leading the ISARIC Global COVID-19 paediatric follow-up and PC-COS project aiming to harmonise outcome selection across Long COVID research and clinical care.

A strong advocate for regulating the infant formula industry, his research highlighted the overdiagnosis of cow’s milk allergy and the lack of infant formula health claims substantiation.

Dr. Munblit has served on various committees at the World Allergy Organization (WAO) and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI). He currently serves as an Associate Editor for Clinical & Experimental Allergy and World Allergy Organization Journal.

Dean Naisbitt is a Professor of Drug Safety Science at The University of Liverpool (UK). He has developed practical and conceptual means to combine aspects of genetics, cell biology and chemistry in order to study the fundamental principles of immunological drug reactions. He has established sophisticated immunological platforms to study emerging drug safety issues with an immune pathogenesis using HLA-typed lymphocytes isolated from patients and drug-naïve volunteers.

Dr Naisbitt has been recognized with several honours and awards including the ISSX New Investigator Award, the British Pharmacological Society Novartis prize and the ACS Chemical Research in Toxicology Young Investigator award. He has published over 180 research articles and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Chemical Research in Toxicology, Toxicological Sciences and Current Opinion Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Dr Orton completed training in General Dermatology between the Royal Free Hospital and the Royal London Hospital in 2000, and then undertook further sub-specialist training in contact dermatitis and General Allergy. He was awarded an MSc in Allergy in 2008 from the University of Southampton. He has been in full time independent medical practice since 2017.

Dr Orton is past President of the British Society of Cutaneous Allergy and past Secretary of the European Society of Contact Dermatitis. During these roles he focused on consumer protection from allergens used in cosmetics and everyday household products. He is credited with forging links between UK Dermatologists and the cosmetics industry. This has allowed for constructive dialogue over issues directly affecting consumers and continues to generate ongoing clinical research.

He has published extensively in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has authored multiple book chapters, and he is a frequently invited lecturer on contact dermatitis.

A registered Children’s nurse with 30 years’ experience of working with young people and their families in a variety of hospital and community based settings.

SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS:
The introduction of Nurse led Paediatric Dermatology clinics at Watford General Hospital, leading to shorter waiting times, a greater time spent with patients & their families & positive outcomes for the patient

Independent Nurse non medical prescriber ensuring greater autonomy and a complete holistic experience for patients & their families

Being a successful member of the Eczema Education programme for Lambeth Health Authority, delivering a programme of education to parents of children with Atopic eczema, and leading to a reduction in GP attendances following the course

Within the Eczema Education programme being part of taskforce that implemented a specialist award winning programme aimed at young people aged 11-18 years

Chair of the Paediatric group of the BDNG , attending , chairing and presenting every year at annual conferences and targeted study days

Published author of multiple articles in Dermatology publications and wider press, including the current edition of Harpers Textbook of Paediatric Dermatology

In my spare time i am a member of Girlguiding UK where i volunteer as a Rainbow , Brownie , Guide and Ranger leader. I enjoy going to the gym , running and have 2 dogs and 2 grown up children.

Graham Roberts is a Professor and Consultant in paediatric allergy and respiratory medicine at University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. He is also the Director of the David Hide Asthma and Allergy Research Centre on the Isle of Wight. Professor Roberts is President of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He is also Chair of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Adolescent and Young Adult Taskforce.

Dr Chris Rutkowski MD, PhD is a consultant allergist at the Department of Allergy at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.  His special clinical and research interests include drug allergy, complex urticaria and anaphylaxis. He works alongside his dermatology colleagues in the first UK joint allergy/ dermatology Difficult Urticaria Clinic at St John’s Institute of Dermatology. Chris developed the largest anti-IgE (omalizumab) service for chronic spontaneous urticaria in the UK.  He is a member of the expert panel group for the revision of the international EAACI/GA²LEN/UCARE urticaria and angioedema guidelines. He is also a member of the EAACI taskforce on paediatric urticaria. Dr Rutkowski is a published author in the field of drug allergy and contributes increasingly to the education and training of MSc students, allergists/dermatologists, GPs and general physicians at a national and international level.

Professor David S Sanders works in Sheffield, UK (http://www.profdavidsanders.co.uk/). He has published >400 peer reviewed papers (H-score > 80). He is internationally recognised for his work in coeliac disease. Research awards: European Rising Star Award (2010), Cuthbertson Medal (2011) and Silver Medal in 2017 (UK Nutrition Society), Swedish Gastroenterology Society Bengt Ihre Medal (2017) & the British Society for Gastroenterology (BSG) Hopkins prize for Endoscopy (2019). He is fortunate to work in the Sheffield Gastro Unit (www.sheffieldgastro.nhs.uk) which has recently been designated as the UK National Centre for Refractory Coeliac Disease (2019), World Endoscopy Organisation GI Centre of Excellence (2020) & Royal College of Physicians (London) Excellence in Patient Care Awards (2021).

Dr. Sargur is Clinical Director for the Laboratory medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. He is director for Sheffield Immunology Protein Reference Unit  which provides the largest allergy test repertoire in UK. He led the development and introduction of several tests including Urinary Methylhistamine, Urinary Prostaglandins, Bradykinin, BAT testing for drugs at the Sheffield Protein reference unit.

He has keen interest in quality control and quality assurance of allergy and immunology laboratory tests.  He is Clinical director for  UKNEQAS  Immunology, Immunochemistry and Allergy which provides external quality assurance schemes for immunology and allergy diagnostic assays.    He is an assessor for IQAS and QPIDS accreditation schemes, and immunology representative on the UKAS Technical advisory committee.

Dr Louise Savic is a consultant anaesthetist with a clinical and research interest in drug allergy and perioperative anaphylaxis. She is currently a doctoral fellow with the NIHR, undertaking mixed-methods research to explore the problems of drug allergy in surgical patients. Her areas of interest include the development of novel diagnostic pathways in drug allergy, ‘delabelling’ of penicillin allergy, and the psychological impact of perioperative anaphylaxis. She recently led the development of a national guideline for penicillin allergy delabelling by non-allergists and is developing a complex intervention for routine delabelling in surgical patients. Working closely with the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Clinical Immunology Professional Network, she is leading a cross speciality working party for improving allergy care among surgical patients.

Sinisa Savic is an associate professor and honorary consultant immunologist based at University of Leeds, and St James’s University Hospital. He graduated in Medicine from Newcastle University and undertook general medical training in Newcastle upon Tyne. He then specialised in Clinical Immunology at Leeds and completed his PhD at Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine. He leads regional immunology department offering specialist clinical and diagnostic services for adult patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiencies, allergies and systemic autoinflammatory syndromes (SAID). He is a current chair of the British society for immunology Clinical Immunology Professional Network.
Dr Savic has clinical and research interests in pathogenesis and management of systemic autoinflammatory disorders and chronic urticaria.

Glenis Scadding is an Honorary Consultant Physician, Royal National ENT Hospital, London and Honorary Associate Professor in Division of Immunity and Infection, University College London.

She trained at Cambridge University and the Middlesex Hospital, to which she later returned as an allergy trainee under Jonathan Brostoff and Ivan Roitt.  She is also a EUFOREA Board Member and Lead for Rhinitis and Scientific Chief Editor for Rhinology Section, Frontiers in Allergy.

Glenis is a BSACI Past President and has been awarded the BSACI William Frankland medal for outstanding services to UK Clinical Allergy as well as Allergy UK-Allergist of the Year- 2011, European Academy of Allergy and Immunology Clemens von Pirquet award for research, British Medical Association -Walter Jobson Horne Award and World Allergy Organization -Outstanding Clinician

In 2020 she gave the BSACI Jack Pepys Lecture.  Her research interests include rhinitis and its co-morbidities, including asthma and rhinosinusitis; aspirin hypersensitivity and sublingual immunotherapy.  She is the author of over 400 peer- reviewed publications (H index 78) and of 2 novels, proceeds from which go to dementia research.

Guy is a consultant allergist at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He runs a general allergy service and also works closely with chest physicians and ENT surgeons. His research has included nasal allergen provocation testing.

Professor Mohamed Shamji is a Professor in Immunology and Allergy, Head of the Immunomodulation and Tolerance Group and Principal Investigator within the section of Inflammation, Repair and Development and Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

His research interest entails understanding the underpinning mechanisms of upper and lower airway diseases, including food allergy, to support the identification of diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring biomarkers of immune modulation by biologicals and allergen immunotherapy. Professor Mohamed Shamji has gained national and international recognition for his research expertise in the field of allergen-specific immunotherapy, immunomodulation and studies mechanisms of allergen-specific immunotherapy on cellular/humoral and molecular levels and how it induces immunological and clinical tolerance. His research also involves the identification of novel biomarkers for monitoring the clinical efficacy of allergen immunotherapy. Professor Shamji is actively engaged in evaluating novel approaches to allergen immunotherapy using a modified hypoallergic form of allergen protein, subcutaneous immunotherapy combined with novel adjuvants, sublingual immunotherapy, peptide immunotherapy, biologics plus allergen of interest strategies to improve safety, efficacy and induce immune tolerance to sensitise allergens. His research has led to several preclinical studies moving onto phase II and III trials of allergen immunotherapy, biologicals and immune modulators.

He is a Principal Investigator and co-investigator on MRC, the immune tolerance network (ITN/NIH) and several industry-funded projects funded through Imperial College London. He has published >150 peer-reviewed articles in the field of allergy, allergen immunotherapy, and biologicals. He received the Phadia Allergy Research Forum (PhARF) Award 2018 (the most Prestigious Award in Allergy). He is also a recipient German Society of Allergy (AeDA) Immunotherapy Award 2021. He is the past Chair of the EAACI Scientific Programme Committee and EAACI Immunotherapy Interest Group. He served on the EAACI Science Committee and chaired the EAACI Research and Outreach Committee. He serves as EAACI Vice-President of Congresses and leads the EAACI ROC Working Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science in precision immunology for personalised medicine. Dr Shamji is also a member of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) Immunotherapy, Rhinitis, Sinusitis and Ocular Diseases (IRSO) Interest Section.

Dr Isabel Skypala Is a consultant allergy dietitian and clinical lead for food allergy at the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals in London and is also an honorary senior clinical lecturer at Imperial College. Dr Skypala gained her degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from Leeds Polytechnic in 1979, and her doctorate from Kings College London in 2009. She has published over 70 peer reviewed papers and books. The focus of her research has been on plant food allergy, including pollen food allergy syndrome and lipid transfer protein allergy. Dr Skypala co-founded the Food Allergy Interest Group of the British Dietetic Association in 2000 and was awarded a BDA fellowship in 2009. She received the BSACI William Frankland Award for services to clinical allergy in 2014, and the Allied Health Professional Recognition Award from the American Academy of Asthma Allergy & Immunology in 2022.

Professor Smith is a clinical scientist with dual accreditation in Public Health Medicine and General Practice. She has clinical and research experience from the UK, Canada, and Singapore. She has led internationally on the development of Primary Care Research Networks to enhance the evidence for clinical practice in the non-hospital setting.  She has a particular interest in Asthma and Allergy and the evaluation of pharmacogenomics.

Dr. Thaventhiran has worked as a clinical academic at Addenbrooke’s Hospital since 2014. He co-led the NIHR BRIDGE programme that investigated the role of whole genome sequencing in patients with suspected monogenic disorders of immune dysregulation. This programme identified novel genetic diseases, including the haploinsufficiency’s SOCS1, PTPN2 and IVNS1ABP. He led the project defining the human phenotype of IL6R deficiency. This uncovered the surprising finding that IL-6 signalling protects against the development of atopy. Over the COVID-19 pandemic, his lab has been studying fundamental immunological mechanisms related to vaccine failure, which has uncovered a hitherto unknown link between obesity and the waning of vaccine responses. He is now investigating the effects of obesity on IL-6 signalling.

Professor Krishna (TK) is Chair of Allergy, Clinical Immunology and Global Health and Honorary Consultant Allergist and Immunologist at University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust.  He is also Head of Postgraduate School of Pathology for West Midlands NHS England – Education.  TK  has maintained a broad interest in allergic conditions including anaphylaxis, food allergy, venom allergy and drug allergy and adopted a multidisciplinary and mixed methods approach in his research.  In recent years, he has taken a special interest in ethnicity-based disparities in immune-mediated diseases in High Income Countries and initiated a number of collaborations with colleagues in the Indian subcontinent and other Low-Middle Income Countries to study asthma and allergies.  He has contributed to multiple BSACI guidelines over the last decade and served on the Standards of Care Committee.  He is Chair of the BSACI working group on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and an Associate Editor for Clinical and Experimental Allergy.

TK was Clinical Lead for the regional Allergy service at UHB (2005-19), and led his department through two successful IQAS accreditations.  He also led a successful bit for the University of Birmingham and UHB to be designated as a WAO Centre for Excellence in Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology in 2020.  TK was awarded the prestigious Jack Pepys Lectureship by the BSACI in 2021.

Victoria qualified as a Paediatric Nurse in 2003 after completing her nurse training at The University of Leeds. Following this Victoria worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children on a busy general surgical unit and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.  Before specialising in Paediatric Allergy, Victoria gained experience working as a School Health Advisor, Nurse Counsellor and Sales Account Manager.

Victoria began working in Paediatric Allergy in 2010 when she was a Research Nurse and continued to do so as a Research Sister.  In these roles she supported Allergy Research Studies at The Evelina London Children’s Hospital (ECH).  Victoria joined the Children’s Allergy and Dermatology Service at ECH in 2012 as a Deputy Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) being the lead nurse for clinical trial studies (GAP, PRESTO and ASSIGN), the Yellow Fever Vaccination Service for children with egg allergy and the lead nurse for supporting the Nurse Consultant and Clinical Nurse specialists in the provision and delivery of the sublingual and subcutaneous immunotherapy service.  Within the three years Victoria was a Deputy CNS, she managed and supervised food and drug challenges, the Allergy and Dermatology Outpatients department, junior staff and nursing students; performed skin prick testing, spirometry, exhaled nitrous oxide testing and administered vaccinations, subcutaneous and sublingual immunotherapy.

In 2015 Victoria joined the Children’s Allergy Research Unit at ECH as a Clinical Research Sister to amalgamate her allergy and research experience.  In her 3 years within the Allergy Research Unit Victoria had the experience of supporting the Palisade and ARTEMIS oral immunotherapy for peanut studies, she was the Lead/Joint Lead Nurse for the management and provision of a variety of allergy research studies, was one of the Clinical Research Sisters who was responsible for the day to day management and supervision of clinical activity on the unit, managed and supported junior staff and nursing students, and supported recruitment and retention of children and their families who participated in allergy research studies.

In 2018 Victoria rejoined the Children’s Allergy Service at ECH as a CNS in Paediatric Allergy before moving to support, as a CNS, leading private allergy clinics in London seeing patients from around the world.

Victoria has been nominated for The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses and an Allergy UK Hero Award in the Health Care Professional Category.

Dr Paul Turner is a Reader and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Allergy & Immunology at Imperial College London. His research, funded by the Medical Research Council, European Commission, NIHR and UK Food Standards Agency among others, focusses on the pathophysiology of severe allergic reactions to food, and how this impacts upon allergen risk management and the use of precautionary allergen labelling. He is a member of the Food Standards Agency’s Science Council, and leads the EAACI Taskforce on Food Allergen Thresholds.  Paul leads the food allergy desensitisation programme at St Mary’s Hospital, London; the team was awarded the Best UK Clinical Team by Allergy UK in 2018. Paul was the recipient of the 2020 PhARf Award, awarded by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI). He is a visiting Honorary Consultant at a number Central London Hospitals, and a consultant to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). He is current chairperson of the World Allergy Organization (WAO) Anaphylaxis Committee.

Sophie Vallis has worked as an Information Officer at Anaphylaxis UK since January 2023. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Birmingham before completing a master’s degree in Applied Sports Nutrition at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

Gillian Vance is Professor of Medical Education at Newcastle University and an Honorary consultant in paediatric allergy and immunology at the Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle. As such, she has a broad portfolio of clinical work and educational research. Her research considers questions salient to everyday work experience and clinical practice and how this understanding might shape education and training in the health professions. Her work has examined the transition into medical practice, as well as progression along career pathways.

Gill is passionate about developing education and training in allergy. She established the allergy e-module at Newcastle University and has supported leadership and strategy-building of the BSACI Allergy Education Network from its inception. Locally, she is the Director for the Specialised Foundation Programme in Northern Deanery, and nationally, co-leads the NIHR Incubator for Clinical Education Research — new NIHR infrastructure to support capacity building across the health professions, promote career progression and excellence within the discipline.

Marta is a Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer and she has been the Director of the Allergy Postgraduate Programme at Imperial College since 2015. She also works as a substantive Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at Imperial NHS since 2017.

Marta did her training in Paediatrics and Paediatric Allergy, and her PhD in Spain. She moved to the UK in 2014 with an EU-funded Marie Curie Postdoctoral Individual Fellowship.

Her research so far has focused on food allergy and specifically on food immunotherapy, quality of life and improved allergy diagnostics. Her PhD contributed to better understanding the safety of food immunotherapy. She leads an international collaboration investigating diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for acute FPIES using a ‘whole-omics’ approach.

Marta is member of the Paediatric Section Board of EAACI where she leads/co-leads taskforces aiming at improving transition care for allergic adolescents and clinical outcomes in food allergy.

Dr. Venter is a Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Allergy/Immunology at the Children’sHospital Colorado and University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, where she is conducting research in allergy prevention and working with children with food allergies. She is the past chair of the International Network of Dietitians and Nutritionists in Allergy, and a member of the American Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (AAAAI), American College of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (ACAAI), European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI). Dr. Venter is a senior advisor to Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE). She is a registered dietitian in the United Kingdom and United States.  She has had publications in international journals, book chapters and edited a book on Food Hypersensitivity.  She moved from the UK in 2015 where she had been performing research into allergy prevention and prevention.

She was a member of the EAACI and AAAAI food allergy guidelines on Allergy Prevention and the EAACI guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy guidelines., the NICE (UK) food allergy guidelines and the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Peanut Allergy Prevention Guidelines. Dr. Venter is currently the chair of the EAACI work group on Immunomodulation and nutrition.

Amena has worked as Head of Clinical Services for the National Allergy patient charity Allergy UK since 2014.
Previously working as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Immunology & Allergy for a London NHS Trust.
Teaching was a very important part of this role, which included GP’s and other hospital staff as well as patients, in how to manage allergic symptoms and avoid or reduce exposure to causative allergen(s).

Research was also a big part of this role, both internal and externally collaborative, with many publications from this as well as partaking in commercial research for pharma.

This role made me greatly appreciative of the important role of the immune system and it’s underpinning to many aspects of ill health.
Training at University College, London in 1979 after studying the 3 sciences at A level, Paediatric training was gained at Great Ormond Street hospital and a Public Health Specialist qualification was gained in 1994.
Amena has been a past president, treasurer and board member of an International Nurses Group, a board member of the Immunology & Allergy Nurses group as well as being the first Nurse to sit on the BSACI council, starting up the National Nurses in Allergy group, which has now evolved into the Allied Heath group within the BSACI

Dr Watts is a Consultant Physician in Adult Allergy and Lead for Drug Allergy Service at Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, London. He is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London, where he is a faculty member on the MSc Allergy postgraduate programme and leads the Allergic Skin Disease module.

Dr Watts qualified from Barts and The London Medical School and was later awarded a competitive NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Allergy. He completed dedicated higher specialty training in Adult Allergy within Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals.

Dr Watts has specialist clinical and research interests in delayed (Type IV) drug hypersensitivity and cutaneous allergy (patch testing) and has published widely in these fields. He additionally developed and leads a drug patch testing service at Homerton University Hospital, which functions as a regional tertiary referral centre within London for the investigation of delayed-type drug eruptions. He is also clinical supervisor and training lead for Immunology & Allergy Specialty Registrars at Homerton Hospital.

Dr Whyte trained in Immunology and Allergy in Australia and Plymouth and has worked at Derriford Hospital as a Consultant Allergist and Immunologist since 2015. His clinical and research interests are clonal mast cell disorders, idiopathic anaphylaxis, and venom allergy, and he leads Derriford Hospital as a Center of Excellence in the European Competence Network on Mastocytosis. He chairs the Allergy in the Military and Idiopathic Anaphylaxis guideline working groups.

Simon Williams holds the position of Chief Executive at Anaphylaxis UK, a charitable organisation dedicated to the provision of support for individuals who are at risk of severe allergic reactions and anaphylaxis. The charity offers an extensive array of resources and information, designed to assist individuals in managing life with serious allergies. This includes, but is not limited to, guidance on medical care and medication, accredited factsheets that cover a comprehensive range of topics related to serious allergies, alerts pertaining to allergies, and customised online training courses for individuals, educational institutions, and professionals.

At present, Simon is guiding the charity through a phase of evolution, reshaping its strategic direction with the aim of extending its reach and providing an increased level of support, education, and information to a larger demographic. During this period of rapid growth and organisational change, the overarching objective of Anaphylaxis UK remains the securing of a brighter, more secure future for individuals who are at risk of anaphylaxis.

Simon has held positions in a number of patient charities, and prior to Anaphylaxis UK was at HEART UK- The Cholesterol Charity where he worked for over seven years.

Karen is an allergy dietitian and is currently a senior clinical teaching fellow for the MSc Allergy at the University of Southampton. Karen has worked as a dietitian specializing in allergy for over 15 years both in Singapore and the UK. She has worked as a clinical allergy specialist dietitian in Southampton and London, where she also worked in allergy research at Kings College Hospital. Karen is Co-Chair of the British Dietetic Association Food Allergy Specialist Group and a member of the British Society of Allergy and Immunology Allergy Education Network (BAEN) project which aims to guide strategic developments around allergy education. In 2021 Karen was awarded the British Society of Allergy and Immunology Anthony Frew Award for Excellence in Education and was awarded the Holgate AAIR Award for Excellence in Allergy from the University of Southampton on the completion of the MSc Allergy.