Allergy 2008

Speakers

Alan A. Wanderer, M.D., FAAAAI, FACAAI

Dr. Alan Wanderer received his M.D. from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons followed by an internal medicine internship at Belleview Hospital and a pediatric residency at Cornell Medical. Following a fellowship in allergy and clinical immunology at National Jewish, he served on the clinical faculty of that institution and as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He has written over 50 papers, book articles and a textbook on urticaria and angioedema, with particular emphasis on reproducible clinical syndromes such as cold urticaria and an autosomal dominant disorder of inflammation called familial cold auto-inflammatory syndrome (FACU). Work on cold urticaria has led to a better understanding of its mechanism and therapy and his interest in FACU in collaboration with Dr. Hal Hoffman has led to the discovery of a cytoplasmic innate immune receptor called cryopyrin (NALP3) that is an important sensor of danger signals that cause secretion of interleukin-1 beta. It is now understood that the cryopyrin inflammasome is involved in inflammation in a variety of disorders, such as gout, silicosis, asbestosis, and amyloid deposits in Alzheimer’s syndrome. Subsequently IL-1 beta targeted therapy has been shown to be effective in chronic refractory gout and in hereditary cryopyrin associated periodic fever syndromes. More recently he published an article in Clinical Immunology (August, 2008) discussing the potential involvement of the cryopyrin in a variety of ischemic-reperfusion disorders and he has also proposed its likely involvement in neutrophilic dominant pulmonary syndromes, such as severe persistent asthma and COPD.

Allan B. Becker, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Becker is Professor and Head of the Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba and a consultant allergist at the Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg. He is a Past-President of the Canadian Society of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. He led development of a national Canadian Asthma Educator Certification Program and development of AsthmaTrec, an Asthma Educator Education Program, which is now used across Canada. He is the primary author of the Canadian Pediatric Asthma Guidelines 2003.
Dr. Becker's primary research interest is in the origins of allergy and asthma and the relationship of gene environment interactions. He is co-Principal Investigator of "The Canadian Asthma Primary Prevention Study”. He is principal investigator for CIHR Teams in Asthma: The Study of Asthma, Genes and the Environment (SAGE) and Gender Related Evolution of Asthma. He is co-leader of the Program for public health, ethics, policy and society of the Networks of Centres of Excellence in Allergy (AllerGen: Allergy Gene Environment Network). He is a site leader and member of the Executive of the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study funded by CIHR and AllerGen.

Prof. Amos Etzioni M.D.

Prof Etzioni was among the first graduates of the Technion Faculty of Medicine and after a residency in Pediatrics at Rambam Hospital, he did a fellowship in allergy and immunology in Philadelphia. Upon his return he started the first allergy/immunology clinic in the North part of the country and became the Head of the Pediatric Department at Rambam hospital. He is currently the Head of the Meyer Children Hospital at the Rambam Campus in Haifa. His main research interest is the field of primary immunodeficiency and he published more than 200 articles in peer reviewed journals. He discovered several new syndromes and also lead the Jeferry Modell Center for Primary immunodeficiency in Haifa.

AVNER RESHEF M.D.

Born 1948 in Israel. Graduated from Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University (1977). Internship: Internal Medicine department, Rambam Medical Center- Haifa, Israel (1983). Post-doctoral fellowship: Department of Allergy and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Maryland USA (1984-1986). Diplomate in Allergy & Clinical Immunology (1987). Head of Internal Medicine Department, Ziv Medical Center- Safed, Israel (1986-1990). Head of Allergy & Immunology, Sheba Medical Center, Israel (1990-present). Member of AAAAI. Former secretary, Israel Society of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (ISACI) 1994-8.

Main fields of interest and research: Asthma, domestic & environmental allergens, Hereditary Angioedema (HAE). Current research: clinical studies on new modalities of treatment in HAE.

Bodo Grimbacher Prof.

Prof. Grimbacher is based at the Department of Immunology at the Royal Free Hospital, University College London, where he is a consultant and EU-Marie-Curie team leader. Previously, he was lecturer and senior scientist at the Department of Clinical Immunology, Freiburg, Germany. He completed his postdoc at the NIH, National Human Genome Institute. Amongst his numerous awards and honours, most recently he was granted the Marie Curie Excellence Grant of the European Commission for 4 years and the Georges Köhler Award 2006 of the German Immunology Society (DGfI).

Dr Grimbacher has set up the internet based patient and research database for over 200 different primary immunodeficiencies which is supported and sponsored by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme. He has identified the first three genetic causes of CVID, two causes of severe congenital neutropenia including the Kostmann syndrome, and most recently the cause of the hyper IgE syndrome.

Bruce L. Zuraw, M.D.

Dr Zuraw is Professor of Medicine-in-Residence, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Program Directo of the UCSD Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program.
He was a Fellow and Chief Clinical Fellow in Allergy and Immunology at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, California and later Director of Clinical Allergy Research and Co-Director of the A&I Fellowship Program in the same clinic.

His research interests focus on allergic inflammation in humans with particular attention to hereditary angioedema, and on the mechanism of action of glucocorticoids.

Dr. Bruce mazer

Dr. Bruce Mazer graduated from McGill University Faculty of Medicine and trained in Pediatrics at the Montreal Children's Hospital. He then completed a clinical and research fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. Dr. Mazer is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at McGill University , Division Head of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at the Montreal Children’s' Hospital and an investigator at the Meakins Christie Laboratories. His research interests include B cell development, IgE regulation, interaction between innate immunity and B cells, and regulation of immune function by intravenous immunoglobulin. He has been awarded a prestigious Chercheur Nationale Award by the Quebec Health Science Fund (FRSQ), and is a William Dawson Scholar at McGill. He has funding from several organizations including Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Allergen-National centers for Excellence, the Canadian Blood Services, the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation and the Institute Robert Sauve pour les rechereche en Sante des Travailleurs.

Carmi Geller-Bernstein, M.D.

Dr Geller Bernstein is a specialist in Pediatrics, Allergology and Clinical Immunology, presently Head of pediatric allergy at the Kaplan Hospital-affiliated to the Hebrew University, Hadassa Jerusalem, in Rehovot, Israel. She is an honorary member of the Israeli Allergy and Clinical Immunology Society, a Founding member of the European Society for Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology (ESPACI), Founder of the working group for Pollinosis in the Mediterranean Area. She is a clinical adviser in the Immunochemistry Dept.of the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot as well as the Botany Dept. of the Tel-Aviv University,Tel-Aviv.

Dr Geller’s fields of interests are pollen allergy in children, pollen hypersensitivity/ tolerance to Mediterranean pollens in different Israeli populations, allergies in migrants and monoclonal antibodies to human basophils.

She is an experienced speaker in national and international meetings, a great teacher and a great physician.

Cheryl K. Bernstein RN, BSN, CCRC

Cheryl Bernstein is director of Bernstein Clinical Research Center in Cincinnati Ohio, and has 25 years of hands-on experience as a research coordinator conducting over 100 clinical research trials of therapeutic agents for allergic rhinitis, asthma, COPD and various skin disorders. Before entering research, Ms. Bernstein received her BSN from the University of Miami and specialized in cardiac, medical intensive care and nursing education. She is a certified clinical research coordinator (ACRP). She has been active as a member of committees of the DIA, ACRP, American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) and is the past Co-Chair of Allied Health Professional Assembly of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). She has organized numerous CME accredited clinical research programs at the AAAAI annual meetings, also serving as a speaker for many of these. Ms. Bernstein has consulted for pharmaceutical companies and for contract research organizations in protocol and case report form design, advertising, subject recruitment, CRC and CRA training.

Dr. Chew Fook Tim M.D.

Dr Chew obtained his PhD from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1998. He was formerly a Research Fellow at the Department of Paediatrics, NUS (1999-2001) and the Center for the Genetics of Asthma and Complex Diseases, University of Maryland (1998), before joining the Department of Biological Sciences (NUS) in July 2001 as an Assistant Professor.

His laboratory has established itself to be amongst the leading laboratories in the field of allergy and has research collaborations with many research groups, industry, regulatory bodies and clinicians worldwide. He is a member of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), European Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), and an executive member of the Singapore Allergy and Clinical Immunology Society, as well as the scientific advisor to the Asian Allergy and Asthma Foundation.

He is a very experienced international speaker, has published more than 80 scientific articles to-date and more than 100 international conference presentations and received numerous prestigious awards for his work as a researcher and teacher.

His research group is interested in understanding the basis of what constitutes an ‘allergen’ and the underlying host response to such antigens. The group has focused on delineating and understanding the molecular structure of major allergenic components from dust mites, cockroach, tropical pollen and spores, fungal allergens, as well as unique allergenic components and triggers of life-threatening anaphylactic reactions from food proteins as well as insects. The ultimate goal is to develop component defined allergen vaccines for immunotherapy, the only possible cure for allergic conditions to-date. The laboratory has also developed several multi-allergen array technologies, allergen assays and diagnostic tools, which have made it a key reference point for clinicians, hospitals, researchers, regulatory bodies and industry, both locally and internationally. In addition, as a molecular biologist and an individual concerned for the environment, he has also developed a system using DNA fingerprinting as a management and forensics tool for sustainable tropical timber.

Dr. Daniel Ein M.D.

Dr Ein is a clinical professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He has been in the clinical practice of allergy since 1972 and founded what became Washington Allergy Associates in 1974. He received his M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He spent six years at the National Institutes of Medicine where he conducted research and published numerous articles on various aspects of the normal immune system and its diseases. He is a member of the Board of Regents of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He founded Capitol Physicians Network, a network of D.C. physicians dedicated to providing integrated health care to its patients. Among other activities, he has served on The D.C. State Health Planning and Development Agency and has been a member of an FDA advisory committee.

David Bernstein, M.D., FACP

Dr Bernstein is Professor of Clinical Medicine, Co-director Allergy Fellowship Training Program and Principal Investigator - Allergy Immunology Training Grant. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, did his Internal Medicine Residency in the Cleveland Clinic Hospitals and his Allergy-Immunology Fellowship at Northwestern University. His research interests include occupational allergic disorders, occupational asthma, impact of environment on childhood atopic disorders, and evaluation of new agents for treatment of allergic respiratory disorders.

Dr Elias Toubi, M.D.

Dr Bernstein is Professor of Clinical Medicine, Co-director Allergy Dr Toubi is the Head of Clinical Immunology and Allergy in Bnai-Zion Medical Center. Technion-Haifa - since 1999. His main fields of interest are: Autoimmune diseases, SLE, Chronic Urticaria, Peripheral self-tolerance and regulatory cells of the adaptive immune system.

Elliot Israel, MD

Dr. Elliot Israel is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also Director of Clinical Research in the Pulmonary Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Dr. Israel received his medical degree and completed his internship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. After completing his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and New York Hospital/Cornell Medical College, he did his clinical and research fellowships at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and Allergy and Immunology.

His major research interests include evidence-based pharmacotherapy of asthma, genetic determinants of pharmacotherapeutic responses to medications for asthma, and the role of fatty acid metabolites in the pathobiology of asthma. This work has contributed to the introduction of new treatments for asthma and standards for evidence-based treatment recommendations. More recently, he has contributed to individualization of asthma pharmacotherapy based on genetic variability. He is a principal investigator of the NIH Asthma Clinical Research Network. He has authored or coauthored more than 125 articles and reviews in such journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Dr.Israel is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, Allergy & Clinical Immunology, and in Critical Care. He is a member of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum. He has been honored with the Daniel D. Federman Outstanding Clinical Educator Award by Harvard Medical School. He has been recognized as one of the outstanding pulmonary physicians in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine as well as by national compendia.

Prof. Francesca Levi-Schaffer M.D.

Prof. Francesca Levi-Schaffer is Chairman of and Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics of the School of Pharmacy in the Faculty of Medicine at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is head of the Teaching Unit of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in the Faculty of Medicine, School of Pharmacy.

Prof. Levi-Schaffer holds the Isaac and Myrna Kaye Chair in Immunopharmacology, and is an honorary senior lecturer at the National Heart and Lung Institute of the Imperial College in London. She was born in Italy and completed her MSc degree in pharmacy at the University of Milano. In 1978 she completed her PhD degree in Immunology at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. Her post-doctoral training was at Harvard Medical School. In 2006, she received an MA degree from the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Prof. Levi-Schaffer has published 125 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 55 reviews and editorials and 15 book chapters. She also has two provisional patents pending. In 2007 she was awarded the Woman in Inflammation in Science Award at the 8th World Congress on Inflammation (Copenhagen, Denmark) for her excellent scientific contributions to the field and to her demonstrated leadership and activities in progressing the careers of woman in inflammation science. In 2001 she received the “Premio Internazionale Sicilia-Il Paladino” (International Champion Prize Sicily, Italy) for her scientific contributions. She currently serves on the Executive Committees of Collegium Internationale Allergologicum (CIA) and the International Eosinophil Society and is a member of the Israeli Ministry of Health Committee for Human Experimentataion of New Drugs. She is a member of the following American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) committees: Ethics/Conflict of Interest and Womens' Involvement in the AAAAI. She is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Clinical and Experimental Allergy, Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, BMC Immunology, International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and Recent Patents in Inflammation & Allergy and Regional Associate Editor of World Allergy Organization Journal (WOAJ).

Gary N. Gross, MD

Gary N. Gross, MD, has practiced allergy in Dallas since 1975. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He did his allergy training at National Jewish Hospital in Denver. His publications are focused on allergy and asthma treatments.

Dr. Fred Finkelman

Dr. Fred Finkelman was trained at Queens College, Yale Med School, completed Internship and Residency at Yale, NIH with Bill Paul, and Rheumatology in Dallas with Morris Ziff. He is the Director of Immunology Divisions at USHUS and Cincinnati, currently McDonald Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics at University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. He is proud of his service as a Deputy Editor of the Journal of Immunology for 5 years and the Board of Directors of FASEB. He is currently an Associate Editor of JACI, has membership on the NIH HAI Study Section, and is listed as one of the 100-most cited Immunologists in the world, with over 300 publications. His scientific interests cover the broad spectrum of Immunology, with a focus on Th2 cytokines and their effects in health and disease. He and his wife are proud of their two daughters who have made Aliyah and now reside in Israel.

Ilan Dalal M.D.

A Cum Laude graduate of the Technion’s Medical School in Haifa, Israel, Dr Dalal is Specialist in Pediatrics as well as Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He is the Director of the Pediatric Allergy Service, Wolfsohn Medical Center, Director of the Pediatric Emerency Department, Wolfsohn Medical Center and a Senior Lecturer of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv.

His main research interests are food hypersensitivity, primary immunedeficiency, inflammatory responses in chronic inflammatory GI disease and acute apendicitis.

Jay M. Portnoy MD

Chief, Section of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Children's Mercy Hospitals & Clinics
Kansas City, MO, USA
And President, American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Dr Jay Portnoy is the Chief, Section of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology at Children’s Mercy Hospitals & Clinics in Kansas City, Missouri and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He received his medical degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and he did his pediatric residency at the Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and his Allergy fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Following that he returned to Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Dr. Portnoy has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals involving asthma disease management, environmental control and mold allergy. More recently he has been involved in evidence-based medicine and he is co-chair of the Joint Taskforce on Practice Parameters. He was co-director of the Kansas University Medical School allergy program from 1985 to 1997 and he founded the UMKC School of Medicine allergy program and directed it from 1997-2006.

Dr. Portnoy currently is President- of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and he serves on numerous committees both of the College and of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. He lives in Kansas and works in Missouri. His wife Ellen and two kids Lara and Michael have been very supportive of his allergy activities over the years.

Dr. Jon Bernstein

Dr. Jonathan A. Bernstein is currently a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Immunology/Allergy Section at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Director of Clinical Research for the Division of Immunology. He received his BA from Kenyon College in 1981 and his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1985. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Hospital from 1985-1988 and his Allergy/Clinical Immunology training at Northwestern University from 1988-1990. He has been a faculty member of the University of Cincinnati Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Immunology/Allergy Section since 1990. Dr. Bernstein is actively involved in clinical and translational research, in addition to pharmaceutical research, patient care and teaching. His current research involves the investigation of indoor environmental determinants in the workplace and home that cause or aggravate asthma and rhinitis and investigation of genetic markers that could identify susceptible populations to these exposures. Dr. Bernstein also has extensive experience conducting clinical therapeutic trials and is a DIA certified investigator. He has considerable experience conducting cross-sectional and longitudinal occupational and non-occupational investigations related to asthma and rhinitis. Dr. Bernstein is an authority on seminal plasma hypersensitivity reactions, an under-recognized problem in women. Other research topics of interest include non-allergic vasomotor rhinitis, olfactory receptor polymorphisms, environmental control of indoor allergens, mold assessment and remediation, genetically modified foods and novel therapies for allergies, asthma and other allergic diseases. Dr. Bernstein has published over 90 peer reviewed articles, clinical reviews and chapters on a variety of these topics. Dr. Bernstein is actively involved in the University of Cincinnati Allergy Fellowship Training Program and in the education of residents and medical students. He serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Environmental and Occupational Respiratory Disease Interest section for the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology. He is immediate past-chairman of the AAAAI Air Pollution committee and was previously chair of AAAAI Occupational Disease committee. In this capacity he has acted as editor and contributor to a rostrum published in 2004 on the Health Effects of Outdoor Air Pollution and is currently editing a follow-up rostrum on the Health Effects of Indoor Non-Industrial Air Pollutants which will be published in JACI in the near future. He is a member of the ACGIH Bioaerosol committee. He is an Associate editor of the Journal of Asthma and on the editorial board of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and on the reviewer board of the JACI. He reviews manuscripts on a regular basis for the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Journal of Asthma, Allergy Proceedings and Chest. In the past two years, Dr. Bernstein’s research funding has come primarily from the pharmaceutical industry in addition to a grant from the American College of Chest Physician foundation and a University of Cincinnati Center for Environmental Genetics NIEHS pilot project grant and President’s launch pad award.

Jonathan M. Spergel, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Spergel is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Director of Food Allergy Center and Chief of the Allergy Section at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He received his medical and graduate education at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed his pediatric residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. His clinical and post-graduate research training in Allergy and Immunology were completed at Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Dr. Spergel is Board Certified in Pediatrics and Allergy and Immunology. He is a fellow in American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, American Assoc of Pediatrics, Philadephia College of Physicians and others.

Dr. Spergel is the principal investigator for multiple studies in the fields of asthma, atopic dermatitis and food allergies. Some of his notable research findings include tolerance of peanut allergy, the link between atopic dermatitis and asthma and the role of food allergy in eosinophilic esophagitis. He is an invited speaker at local, national and international meetings in the field of allergy and pediatrics. He is the chair of the Atopic Dermatitis Committee and Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Task Force of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology and serves on national and international expert panels on the treatment and diagnosis of atopic dermatitis and food allergy. He has authored or co-authored over 45 papers or book chapter in the field of asthma, food allergy and atopic dermatitis.

Judah A. Denburg, MD, FRCPC

Dr Denburg attended McGill University Medical School (1966-8) and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel (1971) where he received his MD. Subsequently, he received his Fellowship Certification (FRCPC) from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for the specialties of Internal Medicine (1976) and Hematology (1977).
Currently, Dr. Denburg is Director and Chief of Service of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster Division. He is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences having received his Professorship in 1988, and holds the William J. Walsh Professorship in General Internal Medicine. Dr. Denburg is active as a physician, with one of the largest practices in Allergy and Immunology in Canada. In his educational role, he serves as the primary link between basic and clinical immunology at McMaster, and has mentored numerous students and fellows into leadership roles in the field of Allergy and Immunology.

In addition to his other duties, Dr. Denburg is now the Scientific Director and CEO of AllerGen NCE Inc., a Network of Centres of Excellence based at McMaster University whose mandate is to support research, networking, commercialization and capacity building activities that contribute to reducing the morbidity, mortality and socioeconomic impact of allergic disease.

Dr. Denburg’s primary research interest is the developmental biology of eosinophils, basophils and mast cells, and their regulation in allergic inflammation; his pioneering investigations on the systemic nature of allergy have had a profound impact on clinical and basic scientific investigations in the field. Dr. Denburg is also a recognized expert on autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). He is particularly interested in the neuropsychiatric complications of SLE, and is involved with a large group of co-investigators in studies of immune mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfunction in this disease.

Dr. Denburg has received awards for his ongoing peer-reviewed and funded (CIHR, CFI, ODCRF) research, including the Pharmacia Allergy Research Foundation Award for Excellence in Research (1990), the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum Award for Excellence in Research (1996) and the Immunology Research Award of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2000). Dr. Denburg has been asked to lead various committees and plan research and educational programmes nationally and internationally. He was elected to the Executive Council of the prestigious Collegium Internationale Allergologicum, and is on the Editorial Board of and/or is primary reviewer for the top journals in the field of Allergy and Immunology globally. His publication list, as well as editorship and/contribution to concept formation and education internationally as an opinion leader in Allergy and Immunology is extensive with over 270 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, reviews and book chapters.

Leonard B. Bacharier, M.D.

Dr. Bacharier is a member and Clinical Director of the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine of the Wasington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri. He received his undergraduate degree in biophysics from The Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Bacharier was an intern and resident in pediatrics at St. Louis Children's Hospital. He was a fellow in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School. He joined the faculty of Washington University in 1998. He is board certified in Pediatrics and Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He is a member of several organizations including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American Thoracic Society. He was a recipient of the 2005 Samuel R. Goldstein Leadership Award in Medical Student Education from Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr. Bacharier's research focuses on childhood asthma. Specifically, he is a co-investigator in the Childhood Asthma Management Program, a multi-centered prospective trial examining the effects of early treatment of asthma on lung growth. He is an investigator in the Childhood Asthma Research and Education (CARE) Network, a multi-centered network examining novel therapeutic approaches to childhood asthma. He is also investigating the role of early infection with Respiratory Syncytial Virus upon the subsequent development of asthma.

I. Leonard Bernstein, M.D.

Professor Emeritus University of Cincinnati
Received MD from the University of Cincinnati Medical School, 1949
Served on the Practice Standards Committee of the AAAAI starting in 1986
Director of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology and Internal Medicine
Past president of the AAAAI 1982-83
Founder of the Allergy Training Program, University of Cincinnati Medical Center
Daniel Drake Award

Leonard Bielory, MD

Dr. Bielory attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where he completed his B.S. in Engineering (Fundamental Science) and a Masters in Molecular Biology (1976); M.D. degree from UMDNJ - New Jersey Medical School (1976-1980); Internal Medicine training at the University of Maryland Hospital; subspecialty training in Allergy and Immunology and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a medical staff fellow in the – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) where his research focus has been on the classic immune complex disorder – serum sickness. He was recruited back to his alma mater to direct the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the UMDNJ - New Jersey Medical School where he is presently Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Ophthalmology, Director of Clinical Research and Development for the Department of Medicine, Director of the UMDNJ Asthma and Allergy Research Center and where he directed the only training program in Allergy and Immunology in the State of New Jersey for 20 years. He is consistently selected as one of New Jersey and New York “Top Docs” in the New Jersey and New York metropolitan area surveys for the past 20 years. He has several hundred publications in peer-reviewed journals, He is presently an Associate Editor of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and serves on several other editorial boards. He continues to serve in various capacities in a variety of national organizations including as an Associate Editor of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, committee chairs for various committees in the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, past Chairman of the National Institutes of Health NIH – National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Raynaud’s Treatment Trial that; the program chairman for the ACAAI International Symposium on Complementary Interventions in Treatment of Asthma and Allergy; reviewer for the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Centers (NCCAM) of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CERC). He has been appointed by the Governor of New Jersey to sit on the Clean Air Council advisory to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Dr. Bielory presently sits on two United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) Council of Experts Committees (Immunology as well as Respiratory and Allergy). He was an original member of the recently convened USP Medicare Model Committee mandated by the United Stated Congress. He has successfully completed over 50 clinical research studies in asthma and allergic disorders. Active research focuses on new immune treatments for asthma and a rare disorder known as hereditary angioedema. He is an international expert in inflammatory disorders of the anterior portion of the eye – especially various forms of ocular allergy.

Lyndon E. Mansfield, MD, FACAAI, FAAAAI

Lyndon E. Mansfield, MD, CCRI, is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Texas Tech Regional Health Science Center in El Paso, Texas. In addition, he is Adjunct Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Texas at El Paso. He serves on the consulting staff at a number of El Paso-area hospitals, including Sierra Providence Medical Centers, R.E. Thomason General Hospital, and Las Palmas-Del Sol medical centers.

Dr. Mansfield received his medical degree at Thomas Jefferson University Medical University in Philadelphia. He completed an internship at the Orange County Medical Center at the University of California, Irvine, in Orange, California, and his residency in pediatrics at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He completed an allergy immunology fellowship at the Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center-National Jewish Medical Center Program in Denver, Colorado. He served at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso as the chief of the allergy immunology service and later of the department of clinical investigation.

Dr. Mansfield is a prolific author and speaker on the subjects of food allergies, airborne allergens, allergic rhinitis, asthma and other respiratory and immunology disorders. In addition to having published numerous journal articles, abstracts, and book chapters, he has given many presentations with abstracts for medical society meetings and conferences, including, most recently, meetings of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) and the Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). He serves as a consultant for the Texas Medical Board. He serves and served on a number of committees of the ACAAI, its Continuing Medical Education Committee, and is presently on the Board of Regents of the ACAAI. He is a director of the Texas Allergy Asthma and Immunology Society. Dr. Mansfield is an advisor to the El Paso Asthma and Allergy Coalition.

Dr. Mansfield is board-certified in pediatrics, allergy and clinical immunology, and diagnostic laboratory immunology. Additionally, he is a board certified principal investigator. He is a member of numerous organizations and societies, and is a Fellow of the ACAAI, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has received numerous academic and military awards, including Army commendation medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster and the Meritorious Service Medal.

Marc E. Rothenberg, M.D., PhD

Dr Rothenberg is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed his training in Pediatrics as well as a fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at the Boston Children's Hospital and is currently the director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He is te recipient of numerous awards and honors for both clinical and research excellence, research that in the past few years has centered to deciphering the functions, roles and therapeutic options of the eodinophils and chemokines involved in allergic inflammation. In addition to numerous seminal scientific articles, Dr Rothemberg is author and co-author of many books and book chapters in his chosen field of endeavor, a gifted speaker and a dedicated teacher. He is also a past and current member of the NIH Expert Panel on Food Allergy.

Mark Ballow, M.D.

Dr. Mark Ballow received his MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. After a Pediatric residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, he completed an Immunology Fellowship at the University of Minnesota Hospitals. He was the Chief of Clinical and Experimental Immunology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was then appointed as Chief of the Division of Clinical Immunology in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut from 1975 to 1988, and became Chief of the Division of Allergy/Clinical Immunology and Pediatric Rheumatology, and Program Director of the Allergy/Immunology Fellowship program at The Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, State University of New York at Buffalo in 1988. He was Acting Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at State University of New York at Buffalo between 2005 and 2007.

Dr. Ballow is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, American Board of Allergy & Immunology (ABAI), and in Clinical Laboratory Immunology. He was on the Board of Directors of the ABAI from 1992-1998. He has served on four Editorial boards including the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (1984-89;1995-2000) , and is an Ad Hoc reviewer for a number of pediatric, allergy and immunology journals. He is currently co-editor of Current Opinions in Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Dr. Ballow was a member of the committee that published the first Allergy and Immunology Medical Knowledge Self Assessment Program (MK-SAP), and was a member of the 3rd edition AI-MK-SAP. Dr. Ballow is a Fellow of the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Academy (1996-1999), and Chairs of the A/I Training Program Directors, Basic Clinical immunology Interest Section, and the Post-graduate Education Program. Dr. Ballow is a member of the Clinical Immunology Society, the Buffalo Allergy Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, and the American Pediatric Society. Dr Ballow is Vice President of the AAAAI, and will become President of the Academy in 2010.Dr. Ballow's major clinical interests include inner city asthma, chronic sinusitis, clinical immunology, and the uses and mechanisms of action of Intravenous Immune Serum Globulin (IGIV).

Meir Shalit M.D.

Dr. Meir Shalit is a graduate of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem. Following a 4-year service in the Israel Defense Forces, Dr. Shalit completed his residency in Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine A at Hadassah Medical Center. He subsequently did his fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology (1985 - 1987) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. In 1991 - 1992 he was a visiting scientist in the Laboratory of Host Defenses at the NIH and in 2002 a visiting scientist in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the NIH. Dr. Shalit has served at many national and international professional committees and is a recipient of awards from the American and European Academies of Allergy and Immunology. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and is the author of more than 100 articles. Dr. Shalit's clinical and research interests has been focused on mast cells and eosinophils function and activation, drug allergies and latex allergy. Dr. Shalit is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine, the Head of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit of the Department of Medicine and the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the Hebrew University Jerusalem.

Dr. Mel Berger

Mel Berger grew up in Philadelphia, then went to Cleveland and earned his undergraduate, medical and PhD (in Biochemistry) degrees at Case Western Reserve University. He completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at Boston Childrens' Hospital, where he was influced by Charles Janeway (Sr), Fred Rosen and Harvey Colten, and decided to pursue further training in clinical immunology. Following residency, he did an allergy-clinical immunology fellowship at NIH where he studied complement in the lab of Michael Frank. He served as Assistant Chief of Allergy-Immunology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and had an initial faculty appointment at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. In 1984, he returned to Cleveland and joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve, where he rose through the ranks to become Professor of Pediatrics, Pathology and General Medical Science (Oncology) and Chief of the Division of Allergy-Immunology at Rainbow, Babies and Childrens' Hospital. In 2008, Dr. Berger took a position as Senior Medical Director in Clinical Research and Development at CSL-Behring, but he continues to hold adjunct faculty appointments at Case and to see patients at University Hospitals of Cleveland.

Dr. Berger's research has focused on antigen-antibody and complement interactions, primary immune deficiency and control of leukocyte activation in inflammatory responses, particularly in the lung in cystic fibrosis.

Dr. Berger has been elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, the American Pediatric Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Society for Pediatric Research, and has served on the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, the Medical Advisory Committee of the Immune Deficiency Foundation, and has chaired the Research and Research Training Committee of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He served for more than 20 years in the US Army and reserve, including commanding a combat support hospital unit during the peace effort in former Yugoslavia, and retired from the Army as a Colonel

Menchem Rottem, M.D., FAAAAI

Menachem Rottem, MD, is Head of the Allergy Asthma and Immunology Service at the Emek Medical Center, Afula, and Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine of the Technion in Haifa. A graduate of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Dr Rottem completed a residency in Pediatrics at Hadassah University Medical Center and an Allergy Immunology Fellowship at the Children Hospital of Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He completed a second Fellowship in Allergy and Immunology as a Clinical Associate at the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He later returned as a visiting scientist to work at the Laboratory of Allergy at the NIAID/NIH.

Dr. Rottem currently is the Chairman of the Israeli Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (IAACI). He serves as Chair of the International Assembly of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) and member of AAAAI committees including Mast Cell Disorder Task Force, Practice, Diagnostics and Therapeutics Committee, Sports Medicine Committee, and Immunotherapy and Diagnostics Committee. Dr Rottem is Chair of the Sub-Committee on Allergy Prevalence and Migration, World Allergy Organization (WAO), and was a member of the World Allergy Congress (WAC) Scientific Program Committee.

Miguel Stein M.D.

Miguel Stein M.D. was born in Santiago, Chile in 1961. He studied medicine at the University of Chile and graduated in 1987. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer Medical Center in Israel. After three years of living in Israel he went into the Army for his compulsory service as a physician. He completed his residency in 1995 while remaining in the army Medical Corps. Dr. Stein completed his fellowship at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot,Israel in 1999, specializing in Allergy/Immunology. He continued his work as a specialist in Allergy and AIDS conducting research in both areas. In 2002, Dr Stein was appointed chief of the Allergy and Lung Disease Clinic for the Israel Medical Military Services at Zrifin, and was promoted to head of the allergy services I.D.F. Medical Corps in 2003.

He joined Dr Marc Rothenberg’s Laboratory at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio in 2005 for his post-doctorate research fellowship. Dr Stein is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, has been awarded the Beni Korenbrot memorial award (1999), Bernard B. Siegel Memorial Award (2000), Harry and Bella Wexner Senior Fellow American Physicians Fellowship for Medicine in Israel award (2005), “Allergists for Israel” mini-fellowship award (2005), American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders Award (2006), and the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies Award (2006). Dr. Stein worked with patients who have eosinophilic disorders and gained expertise in clinical trials and translational laboratory research. His studies have been published in prestigious journals and he has participated in numerous national and international meetings making presentations of topics relating to anti-IL-5 therapy in hypereosinophilic syndromes and eosinophilic esophagitis. After returning from his 3.5 years in Cincinnati, Dr Stein is currently leading the Allergy/Immunology Service at Soroka University Medical Center in Beer Sheva developing a clinical and research program as well as collaboration studies between Israel and the US.

Mona Iancovici Kidon M.D.

Born 1963, married, mother of three. A Cum Laude graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion - Israel's Institute of Technology, Dr Kidon is an American Board of Pediatrics - certified pediatrician and has completed her fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel. Currently she is a senior physician in the Allergy Immunology Unit, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel and a consultant in Allergy and Immunology to the Department of Paediatric Medicine, KK Children's Hospital in Singapore.

Dr Kidon is an experienced lecturer both in Israel and abroad, with interests in the fields of environmental and genetic determinants of atopic disease and asthma, allergen characterization as well as drug hypersensitivity reactions. Her recent publications reflect this broad spectrum of interests: (1-5)

References
(1) Zeldin Y, Kidon MI, Magen E, Bibi H, Cohen A, Waisel Y et al. Impact of specific allergen sensitization on the prevalence of asthma in patients with allergic rhinitis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2008.

(2) Chiang WC, Kidon MI, Liew WK, Goh A, Tang JP, Chay OM. The changing face of food hypersensitivity in an Asian community. Clin Exp Allergy 2007; 37(7):1055-61.

(3) Iancovici-Kidon M, Tim CF. Component-specific immunoglobulin E in the diagnosis of allergic disease in childhood: more of the same or something more? Isr Med Assoc J 2007; 9(6):476-8.

(4) Kang LW, Kidon MI, Chin CW, Hoon LS, Hwee CY, Chong NK. Severe anaphylactic reaction to ibuprofen in a child with recurrent urticaria. Pediatrics 2007; 120(3):e742-e744.

(5) Kidon MI, Liew WK, Chiang WC, Lim SH, Goh A, Tang JP et al. Hypersensitivity to Paracetamol in Asian Children with Early Onset of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Allergy. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2007; 144(1):51-6.

Myron Zitt, M.D.

Myron Zitt, MD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Director of the Adult Allergy Clinic and an Attending Physician in Medicine at the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, New York. He is also in private practice with the Mid Island Allergy Group on Long Island, New York.
Dr Zitt received his medical degree from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. He completed a residency in Medicine at Long Island College Hospital and a fellowship in Allergy-Immunology and Chest Disease at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Allergy and Immunology.

Dr Zitt is a Fellow of the American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology where he is Past President and has served on its Executive Committee, Board of Regents and ACAAI Foundation. He presently serves on the Program and International Committees, both of which he has chaired in the past. He has also chaired the CME/CPD Committee. the Pharmaceutical Symposium Committee and the Sports Medicine, Credentials and Abstract Committees as well as the Scientific Council. Dr Zitt is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology where he is active in serving on the Public Education Committee. He is on the Board of Directors for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America where he serves as Vice President of Research and on the Board of Directors of the World Allergy Organization where he co-chairs the Emerging Societies Committee. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Joint Council of Allergy Asthma and Immunology.

Dr Zitt is a Past President of the Long Island Allergy and Asthma Society. He has also served on the Editorial Board of the Annals of Allergy Asthma & Immunology and has published numerous scientific papers and abstracts on topics regarding asthma and allergy.

Paul A. Greenberger, M.D.

Paul A. Greenberger, M.D. is Professor of Medicine, Division of Allergy-Immunology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. His areas of investigation have included allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, severe and fatal asthma, idiopathic anaphylaxis, drug allergies, and safe medications and effective care during pregnancy. He has published 259 manuscripts and over 80 chapters and reviews. He is co-editor of Patterson's Allergic Diseases. He is most proud of participating in the post-graduate education of 113 fellows in Allergy-Immunology at Northwestern University.

Dr. Phil Lieberman M.D.

Dr. Phil Lieberman is currently Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics (Divisions of Allergy and Immunology) at the University of Tennessee - College of Medicine, Memphis, Tennessee.
He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, College of Medicine and also completed his Internal Medicine training at this institution. He did his Allergy/Immunology Fellowship at Northwestern University.
Dr. Phil Lieberman is former president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and the American Association of Certified Allergists. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.
He is the author of over 225 scientific publications and is co-editor of the text Allergic Diseases. His present investigative interests are in the fields of asthma and anaphylaxis.

Richard G Gower. M. D., FACAAI, FACP

Richard G. Gower, MD, is a practicing allergist/immunologist at Marycliff Allergy Specialists in Spokane, Washington. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and on the staff of Sacred Heart Medical Center and Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, Dr. Gower did a residency in internal medicine at the University of Miami Affiliated Hospitals in Miami, Florida. He completed a fellowship in allergy/clinical immunology and vasculitis at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver. Dr. Gower is past president of the Intermountain West Allergy Association, Western Society of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, Washington State Society of Internal Medicine, and is a member of numerous professional societies. He has served as Treasurer, Speaker of the House of Delegates and as a member of the Board of Regents and Executive Committee of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. He is currently serving on the Executive Committee of the ACAAI Board of Regents as President-Elect of the College. He has been primary investigator in 85 clinical studies on the treatment of asthma, allergic rhinitis/conjunctivitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Dr. Gower has presented papers at national and international meetings concerning diseases of the respiratory tract and is the author of several publications. Dr. Gower is active in presentations to specialty and primary care audiences and has a major goal of increasing public awareness of allergy/asthma and immunology disease states.

Richard J. Martin, M.D.

Richard J. Martin, MD, is Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center (NJMRC), Denver, Colorado, and holds the Edelstein Chair in Pulmonary Disease. He is Professor of Medicine at National Jewish and at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. Martin completed a residency in medicine at Tulane University and a pulmonary fellowship at the University of Oklahoma. He is board certified in both internal medicine and pulmonary diseases.

Dr. Martin’s current areas of research include the distal airways in asthma, the effect of mycoplasma on chronic asthma, and the mechanisms related to increased bronchial responsiveness in nocturnal asthma. Additional areas of research are for the Asthma Clinical Research Network and how infection and cigarette smoke propagate COPD. He has authored 240 journal articles as well as many books and book chapters on various topics related to respiratory disorders. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals and is a reviewer for many journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Chest, and The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Dr. Martin currently serves on the International Scientific Committee for the World Asthma Conference and is Chair of the Infections and Asthma Task Force of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). He is a member of many professional associations including the AAAAI, the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), and the American Thoracic Society, among others. He was inducted into the Colorado Pulmonary Hall of Fame in 2007; he received the ACCP Distinguished Scholar Award in Respiratory Health - 2003 through 2007; and he has been recognized in various publications including America’s Top Doctors and Who’s Who in America.

Sheldon Spector M.D.

Dr. Spector is an internationally recognized expert in the field of allergy, asthma and clinical immunology. He earned his medical degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Postgraduate education included residency in Internal Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, research fellowship in the Laboratory of Virology and Rickettsiology at the National Institutes of Health, and fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the National Jewish Hospital in Denver, Colorado. He also spent one year in Paris as a US Public Health Service Research Fellow under the renowned allergist, Prof. Bernard Halpern, who discovered promethazine.

Dr. Spector is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is currently on the Board of Regents of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). He has held numerous leadership positions including Allergy and Immunology Program Director at the National Jewish Hospital, Past President of the Los Angeles Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the California Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He is presently co-chairman of Allied Health of the AAAI and continues to serve on the Task Force of Practice Parameters.

He has published over 300 journal articles, books and book chapters and lectures all over the world. He received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1994, as well as Distinguished Service Awards from both the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

Dr Shimeon Pollack M.D.

Dr Pollack is a graduate of the Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv University, completed his training in Medicine in Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel, as well as fellowship in Allergy/Immunology in a special program at the Cornell Medical Center/ Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital , New York and is currently the Director of the Institute of Allergy , Immunology and AIDS at the Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, an Associate Professor of Medicine and Immunology and Chairman of the Department of Immunology at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Haifa. Dr Pollack also spent 2 research Sabbatical years , one at UCLA and the other at the Weizmann Institute in Israel.

He is the Principal Investigator for Israel of NIH sponsored International Network for clinical studies in AIDS ( INSIGHT ). He is also the recipient of a MSc degree in Health Administration (MHA) from the School of Business Management, Tel Aviv University. His research in the last years is focusing on the role of monocytes/dendritic cells in various physiopathological states. In addition to more than 150 scientific articles, Dr Pollack is author and co-author of book chapters in his chosen field of endeavor, a gifted speaker and a dedicated teacher. He is also a current member of the National Council of Medical Laboratories, where he is on charge on Clinical Immunology and Allergy.

TIMOTHY J. CRAIG

Chief, Allergy and Immunology,
Training Program Director,
Director, Clinical Respiratory and Allergy Research,
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center,
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine,
Hershey, Pennsylvania

Timothy J. Craig, is Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He is also Chief of Allergy and Immunology, Director of Clinical Respiratory and Allergy Research, and the Training Program Director at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Craig received his medical degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury, New York. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the San Diego Naval Hospital in San Diego, California. He then completed a fellowship in allergy and immunology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Dr. Craig is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI), for which he currently serves as Chair for the Sports Committee and is past chair of the Occupational Diseases Committee. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), for which he currently serves as Chair of the Sports Committee and is a newly elected Board Member. In addition he is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the ACOI. He has served as a board member on the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine. He is past president of the Pennsylvania Allergy and Asthma Association and past Governor for AAAAI Region 2 State and Local Allergy Associations. Dr. Craig is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and the Proceedings of Allergy and Asthma.

Dr. Craig is well published in journals such as NEJM, Allergy, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and has way over 120 publications. His research areas are rhinitis and sleep, asthma and Hereditary Angioedema and he is presently part of the Asthma Clinical Research Network, which is an asthma research group funded by the NHLBI of the NIH.

Prof. Ulrich Wahn M.D.

Professor Wahn is the Director of the Pediatric Clinic of Respiratory and Immunological Diseases at the Charité Hospital, Campus Virchow-Klinikum in Berlin. He is a graduate of the University of Heidelberg, received his accreditation in Allergology in 1978, worked for a while at the National Institutes of Health (Clinical Immunology Section) in Bethesda, USA and since 1986 is a Professor of Pediatrics and Respiratory disease at the medical school of the University of Berlin.

He is a past president of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, author of a great number of books, chapters and seminal papers in the field of pediatric allergy and the recognized originator of the phrase “Atopic March”.

Dr.William Berger M.D.

William E. Berger, MD, MBA, is Medical Director of Allergy and Asthma Associates of Southern California and of Southern California Research; both facilities are located in Mission Viejo, California. Dr. Berger has a distinguished 26-year career as a clinician, researcher, author, and educator at the University of California at Irvine.

Dr. Berger is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. He received his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, and his MBA from the Graduate School of Management, University of California at Irvine.

Dr. Berger was elected and served as President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in 2002-2003 as well as President of both the Orange County and California Societies of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. He is the recipient of several prestigious clinical awards and has been a member of the joint Task Force on Practice Parameters, Chairman of the Managed Care Committee of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and Chairman of the Mission Hospital Institutional Review board.

A former Medical Correspondent for the Orange County Newschannel, Dr. Berger is the author of many academic papers and lay press articles in the field of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, including the recently published book "Allergies and Asthma for Dummies." In 2002, he was chosen by the editors of Consumer's Checkbook Magazine for their list of "Top Doctors".

William Dolen

Dr. William K. Dolen is Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia, USA. He also serves as director of the allergy-immunology laboratory and director of the allergy-immunology fellowship program. He is a past President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and has been active in this and other allergy organizations in the USA. His particular interests include upper airway disease, diagnostic allergy testing, allergen characterization, and medical informatics. He enjoys music, photography, and SCUBA diving.

William S. Silvers, M.D.

Allergist in private practice at Allergy Asthma Colorado at the Greenwood Medical Center with consultation clinics at Sky Ridge Medical Center, Summit County, and Vail. Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of Colorado School of Medicine. After completing fellowship at National Jewish Medical and Research Center, spent the next year in Israel doing research and starting an allergy clinic at the Hadassah Medical Center, Ein Kerem. Upon return to Colorado, he founded Allergists for Israel, an endowment fund initially based at the Allied Jewish Federation of Denver, which helps fund programs at Allergy Clinics in Israel, and gives scholarships to Israeli allergy fellows to attend meetings and train in the United States. His daughter Molly is in first grade at Herzl.

Active in the Holocaust Awareness Institute, Herzl, Aish/Ahavas Yisroel, and HEA. Former president of the Colorado Allergy & Asthma Society, active in national allergy organizations, former medical director of Asthma Ski Foundation and Colorado Children’s Asthma “Champ Camp”. Recipient of University of Colorado School of Medicine Community Service Award. Listed in “Denver’s Top Doctors” for multiple years.

Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld M.D.

Dr Yehuda Shoenfeld is the head of the Department of Medicine since 1984 (age 36), and he has founded and is heading the Center for Autoimmune Diseases since 1985 - at the largest hospital in Israel- the Sheba Medical Center, which is affiliated to the Sackler Faculty of Medicine in Tel-Aviv University. Dr. Shoenfeld is the Incumbent of the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Chair for Research of Autoimmune Diseases in Tel-Aviv University.

His clinical and scientific works focus on autoimmune /rheumatic diseases, and he has published more than 1300 papers in journals such as New Eng J Med, Lancet, Proc Nat Acad Scie, J Clin Invest, J Immunol, Blood, J Exp Med, Circulation, Cancer and others. He has authored and edited 10 books, some of which became cornerstones in science and clinical practice, such as "The Mosaic of Autoimmunity", "Infections and Autoimmunity" and the textbook "Autoantibodies" all of which were published by Elsevier and sold by the thousands. He is on the editorial board of 43 journals in the field of rheumatology, and autoimmunity and is the founder and the editor of the IMAJ (Israel Medical Association Journal) the representative journal of science and medicine in the English language in Israel and also is the founder and Editor of the Autoimmunity Reviews (Elsevier). He has written more than one hundred chapters in books.

Yossef Mekori M.D.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1948, Dr. Mekori received his medical education at the Sackler School of Medicine, earning the M.D. degree magna cum laude in 1975. He completed a residency in internal medicine in 1981 at the TAU-affiliated Meir General Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel, and moved to Denevr CO for a clinical fellowship in allergy and clinical immunology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, followed by a research fellowship in Pathology at the Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

Dr. Mekori 's research focused on mast cell function in allergic and non-allergic inflammatory processes. In 1986, he established and headed the Division of Allergy and Clinical immunology at the Meir General Hospital and in 1990 was appointed Chairman of Medicine in that hospital. In 1993 he spent a year as a Visiting Scientist in the Laboratory of Allergic Diseases at the NIH, Bethesda, MD. Dr. Mekori is a former Chief Scientist of the Israeli Clalit Health Services.
A fellow of the American Academy of Asthma Allergy and Immunology Dr. Mekori maintains membership in numerous professional organizations, including the European Academy of Allergy and Immunology and the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum. He served as the President of the Israeli Society of Allergy and Immunology and member of several international committees in this field. At TAU, Dr. Mekori became Professor of Medicine in 1994, incumbent of the Reiss Chair in Dermatology, a former head of the TAU-affiliated Felsenstein Medical Research Center and since 2002 has been Vice Dean for research and development of the faculty. In 2006 Dr. Mekori was appointed as Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

Prof. Ytzhak Katz M.D.

Prof. Ytzhak Katz is a graduate of the Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv, Israel. He has completed training in allergy and clinical immunology at the world renowned National Jewish Center for Allergy and Respiratory Medicine in Denver, Colorado, in addition to his training in pulmonary medicine at the Saint Luis Children’s Hospital, Saint Luis, Missoury. Since 1989, he is the head of the Institute of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology at the Assaf Harofe Medical Center, a former head of the executive committee of the Israel Association of Allergy and Clinical immunology and a leader in the field of asthma and food hypersensitivity in Israel.

His research interests are manyfold, including basic immunology, epidemyological work on asthma and food hypersensitivity reactions, and a major participant in international clinical studies on the effectiveness of new treatement modalities in asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Yuri Zeldin M.D.

Dr Zeldin is an honors graduate of the Ivanovo State Medical Institute in the former USSR. His training includes a fellowship in family medcine at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev and in Allergy and Clinical immunology in Moscow, the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel and at the University of Cinncinati, USA.

He is currently a consultant for Allergic diseases to the Israel Defense Forces and a senior physician in the Clinical Immunology and Allergy unit Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon, Israel.

Dr Zeldin is an instructor of Family Medicine at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and is the recipient of the 2007 AFI clinical research grant.

Recent Publications: (1;2)
(1) Zeldin Y, Kidon MI, Magen E, Bibi H, Cohen A, Waisel Y et al. Impact of specific allergen sensitization on the prevalence of asthma in patients with allergic rhinitis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2008.

(2) Zeldin Y, Weiler Z, Cohen A, Kalinin M, Schlesinger M, Kidon M et al. Efficacy of nasal Staphylococcus aureus eradication by topical nasal mupirocin in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2008; 100(6):608-11.

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