It has been my pleasure to serve as the president of the Allergists’ Foundation this past year, and I would like to take a moment to reflect on some of our achievements.
Since The Allergists’ Foundation launched its Community Grant Program in 2021, we awarded nearly $400,000 in grant funding to support 25 innovative projects. This would not be possible without the generous donations from members of the College and the ongoing support by GSK. We are on track to reach our 10-year goal of raising $1 million in support of the program, and I would like to thank everyone – especially our club-level donors – for making this possible.
We recently announced our 2024 grantees, whose projects address many important issues in the practice of allergy and immunology. These projects and studies focus on knowledge gaps in inborn errors of immunity, food allergy management and prevention, artificial intelligence in the diagnosis of angioedema, food insecurity in pediatric food allergy care, and asthma and anaphylaxis in inner city schools, plus a project to develop a national registry for female carriers of X-linked Chronic Granulomatous Disease. Through their work, our grantees are making a big difference in their communities.
Several of our past Community Grant recipients presented their abstracts at the 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting. These innovative projects focus on critical areas such as improving health care utilization in urban children with asthma and atopic dermatitis, enhancing teamwork in anaphylaxis management, and addressing issues like indoor air quality in homes with asthmatic children and reducing food allergy IgE panel utilization. Their ePosters are available online and include projects led by Drs. Barbara Ariue (R203), Marcella Aquino (R174), Gerald Lee (R308), Alan Baptist (R136), Krishan Chhiba (R003), Matt McCulloch (R173), Andrea Pappalardo (R163) and (R164), and Jing Sun, Kelly Colas, and Gabriel Mendoza (R315).
Please join us in contributing to the success of the Allergists’ Foundation by making a gift today! Together we can grow the program and support projects that make a difference for our specialty, our patients and our communities.
And, if you have an idea you’d like to get funded, look for the funding opportunity notice in January! Be sure to visit the community grants webpage to learn more about the program and how you can apply.
Melinda M. Rathkopf, MD, MBA, FACAAI
President, The Allergists’ Foundation
