Posted by Eleanor Garrow |
Our first 2011 Food Allergy Conference in Baltimore on April 2 was a great success, with more than 200 people in attendance.
Robert Wood, M.D., spoke about food allergy management and expressed optimism about current research, Eyal Shemesh, M.D., discussed the developmental stages of living with food allergies, and life coach and author Gina Clowes (One of the Gang) gave attendees tips about parenting a child with food allergies.
There were also sessions from FAAN experts about advocacy issues, sending your child to school with food allergies, and living with food 
allergies as an adult. FAAN Ambassador Who Cares and cookbook author Cybele Pascal (Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook) presented an allergen-friendly cooking workshop to a packed house, and teens enjoyed an entire day of sessions tailored to their age group. Sloane Miller, L.M.S.W., food allergy coach and author (Allergic Girl), along with Clowes, Pascal, and author Elizabeth Gordon (Allergy-Free Desserts) also signed copies of their books. In sum, it was a great day, full of education and bonding.
It is wonderful to see new and familiar faces each year at our conferences. It is very heartwarming to hear how FAAN has helped so many of our families, and knowing that I helped just one person makes my job all the more worth it.
We also had the opportunity to honor several winners of our 15th Annual Mariel C. Furlong Awards for Making a Difference and one of the recipients of the Third Annual Grandparent Awards who were in attendance. They were:
- Richard Wachs, M.D. (MCF Award – health professional category)
- Lauren Eicher, R.N. (MCF Award - school category)
- Burke United Methodist Preschool (MCF Award - school category)
- Marie Pratt (MCF Award - school category)
- Paul Mennett (Grandparent Award)
Our Oak Brook conference on Saturday, April 16, will feature similar presentations, with cookbook 
author Kelly Rudnicki (The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book) leading the allergen-friendly cooking workshop. Rudnicki and Clowes will be signing their books (copies will be available for purchase at the conference or you may bring your own copy). In Anaheim, Pascal and Clowes will be on hand to sign their books.
I hope to see you there! If you haven’t already done so, register for the conferences in Oak Brook, IL on April 16 and Anaheim, CA on June 11.
Posted by Maria Acebal |
Hello, food allergy families! My name is Maria Acebal and I serve in two roles here at FAAN: first, as Vice President of Research and second, as General Counsel. I’ve just returned from an international “Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting” of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology held in Venice, Italy. Many of the top researchers and clinicians from not only Europe but also North and South America and Australia gathered to share their latest findings and best practices. Progress continues to be made on working toward a treatment for food allergies, and one of the main avenues discussed was achieving tolerance through immunotherapy.
Other interesting presentations included advances in food allergy testing such as component-specific IgE, whereby not only is a patient’s IgE level to a specific food assessed (as in a patient’s peanut IgE number), but IgE numbers to the different proteins that make up the allergy-causing food (such as the main peanut proteins Ara H 1, 2, and 3) are also assessed. The reason this is important is that different proteins are more likely to cause a food allergy reaction than others. One of my favorite presentations at this meeting was titled “Is it or Isn’t It?” by Jonathan Hourihane, a charismatic doctor from Ireland, who talked about to how to recognize and manage anaphylaxis through case studies. The point he kept driving home was DON’T BE AFRAID TO USE YOUR EPINEPHRINE AUTO-INJECTOR!
At the conference I had the honor of presenting on the work of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Alliance , a cooperative international group founded by FAAN and now consisting of 14 members and counting. Members of the Alliance meet annually to discuss issues that food allergy patients around the globe face, and work together toward common objectives, such as clear, concise food labeling; anaphylaxis prevention; research; and successful management of food allergies, whether it’s at home, dining out, or at school.
After a packed three-and-a-half days of presentations (and admittedly some lovely walks around Venice after two days of rain!) I had the pleasure of flying home with Matthew Fenton from the National Institutes of Health (although this is a mouthful, I want to give you his complete title: Chief of the Asthma, Allergy and Inflammation Branch of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation). Matthew has been on an extensive public relations campaign – appearing on radio, television, and print – in order to disseminate the recently released and groundbreaking Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy in the United States, a project he was instrumental in spearheading.
As a food allergy mom myself, it was incredibly reassuring to know that dedicated professionals all over the globe are working so hard to make life better for kids and adults with food allergies.
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