The World Allergy Organization (WAO), in conjunction with the College, convened an all-day World Allergy Training School (WATS) in Havana, Cuba earlier this month. More than 50 primary care and specialty physicians participated. The WATS program included a combination of lectures and workshops covering asthma, allergic rhinitis, anaphylaxis, allergen immunotherapy, drug allergies, food allergies, and skin allergies.
The WAO faculty included Sami Bahna, MD, FACAAI, John Oppenheimer, MD, FACAAI, James Sublett, MD, FACAAI and Dana Wallace, MD, FACAAI. Faculty members also participated in the opening ceremony and presented lectures at the VI Central Iberoamericano and X National Allergy Congress of the Cuban Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunological Society. The local organizing committee was led by Mirta Alvarez Castelo, MD, Cuban Allergy president, and by Jose Rodriguez Canosa, MD, Scientific Committee chair. The congress was opened by Francisco Alberto Durán García, MD, National Director of Epidemiology of the Cuban Health Ministry. The WAO and College faculty left Cuba feeling very rewarded with the enthusiasm and appreciation demonstrated by the WATS participants and enriched by the newly-formed professional friendships.
