At the 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando, Florida, Cherie Y. Zachary, MD, FACAAI was installed as the 2025-26 College president.
“It is an honor to work with the leadership of ACAAI on behalf of practicing allergists and our patients,” Dr. Zachary said. “As president, I look forward to helping shape the future of our specialty in support of our members and the well-being of our patients.”
Dr. Zachary received her undergraduate degree in economics at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. She attended medical school at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. Dr. Zachary completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Minnesota and her fellowship in allergy/immunology at Northwestern University and Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She recently retired from private practice after 34 years of serving patients in Eagan, Minnesota.
An ACAAI Fellow since 1990, Dr. Zachary has been active in many College activities. She has served as a member of the Membership Committee, the Appointments Committee, the Meeting Site Selection Committee, the Government Relations Committee and the Board of Regents for ACAAI, as well as chairing our Diversity Task Force. A past Chair of the Allergy Section for the National Medical Association, she has also served as a member of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee. She is currently chair of the Licensure Committee of the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice.
Collaboration is a key goal during Dr. Zachary’s service as ACAAI president. She will continue important College initiatives such as the Community and Academic Partnership in Education and Research (CA2PER) and Pathways to Practice (P2P). She is poised to address one of the challenges and opportunities currently facing allergy/immunology – the need to draw more physicians into our specialty.
There also is a continuing need to encourage physicians of color to enter the field. In 2026, ACAAI will increase its efforts to encourage medical students at historically Black medical colleges (HBCU) who are interested in internal medicine, pediatrics, or med-peds residencies to apply for SPARK awards in the hopes of sparking an early interest in the field of allergy/immunology. Applications will open this spring.
Dr. Zachary also has committed to sustaining the College’s stellar efforts in working with partner organizations to advocate for patient access to treatments and services.
As always, the leadership of the College is working to support all of its members in the business of allergy/immunology so that our members can keep thriving, and our patients can keep finding relief.
