I am honored and humbled to be considered for this year’s ACAAI Gold Headed Cane Award, which coincides with my 30th anniversary as a Fellow of the College. My love for and involvement with the College actually spans more than 30 years, starting with election as Fellow-in-Training (FIT) Representative to the Board of Regents (BOR) from 1993-1995 while in training at National Jewish Health in Denver.
It has been a tremendous privilege to hold many “hats” over a career of service to the College and our specialty, to help shape and influence a number of key areas, with 13 years as a voting member on the ACAAI Board of Regents (BOR). In addition to FIT representative, on the BOR I have served as a regent (2005-2008), speaker of the House of Delegates (2013-2015), treasurer (2018-2020), vice president (2020-2021), president-elect (2021-2022), president (2022-2023), immediate past president (2023-2024) and past immediate past president (2024-2025). I have had the pleasure to work on nearly 30 College committees and councils, the longest (and arguably most fun) of which has been the FIT Bowl Committee (1993-present).
During my career, I have been integrally involved in advocacy work beginning with the Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (JCAAI; 2012-2015) as its secretary (2013-2015), and spearheading efforts which would result in legislative changes in Maryland and Michigan to assure allergists’ ability to mix allergenic extracts in their offices. I also had the privilege of representing our specialty along with others at USP headquarters and later at an FDA hearing related to allergen extract mixing, at the national level. This advocacy work dovetailed with strategic initiatives with which I was involved to shape the future of the College, including bringing JCAAI into the College as the Advocacy Council, the creation of the HOD regional and state delegate network, and the integration of HOD into the Advocacy Council structure.
Education has been a cornerstone of my career, and I contributed first on the editorial board of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (1997-2001), then AllergyWatch (assistant editor, 2006-2012). While in community practice, I was elected to the American Board of Allergy and Immunology (ABAI) Board of Directors (2015-2020). At ABAI, I played a key role in shaping and implementing the CAP pilot which would become our new maintenance of certification process (CAP Pilot co-chair, 2018-2019). In the same year of the CAP pilot launch, I was elected ABAI chair (2018) by my peers on ABAI, after serving as vice chair elect (2016) and vice chair (2017).
After practicing in western Maryland for over two decades, in 2017 I accepted the position of Division Chief of Allergy-Immunology at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). While I truly enjoyed private practice, I have loved being a part of fellow education and seeing the future of our specialty, now as fellowship program director (2021-present). In my academic practice, I have been honored to be promoted to Professor (2022) and receive the Betty. B. Wray MD Distinguished Chair in Pediatrics at MCG (2022-present). Unsurprisingly, my College presidential initiative focused on creating a program for the education of learners in community practice.
In 2020, I was elected to the ACGME Review Committee (RRC) for Allergy-Immunology (2020-2026; vice chair 2022-2024), where I have helped shape fellowship training by contributing to future program requirements to be released in 2027, and helped explore implementation of competency-based medical education in our training programs.
Whatever happens in the future, I am ever-grateful for many wonderful people who have been mentors and collaborators over the years, and I hope to continue to contribute meaningfully to our specialty and the College!
