Food Allergies Focus of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Conference

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC will host a conference for health care providers, parents and other caregivers of individuals with food allergies. Made possible through a community outreach grant from Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), the conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10, in the John G. Rangos Sr. Conference Center, on the Children’s Hospital campus in Lawrenceville. The conference is intended to become an annual event.

This year, Children's was named an inaugural Food Allergy Center of Excellence by FARE, which established the FARE Clinical Network, an initiative that aims to accelerate the development of drugs for patients with food allergies as well as improve their quality of care. Children's is the only hospital in western Pennsylvania and one of 22 hospitals across the nation to be named a Center of Excellence.

“We anticipate that this will be a great opportunity for all types of health care providers as well as parents and other caregivers of those with food allergies to receive and share accurate, cutting-edge information about food allergy diagnosis and treatment, learn how to work with schools when your child has a food allergy, and network with others,” said Todd D. Green, M.D., director, FARE Clinical Center of Excellence at Children’s.

“This conference represents an exciting partnership between the leading food allergy nonprofit organization and our hospital,” added Dr. Green, who also is a member of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology at Children’s Hospital and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The conference will include sessions focusing on:

• food allergies at school
• future therapies of food allergies
• psychosocial aspects of food allergies
• parenting and cooking for children with multiple food allergies
• inquiring about food allergy research studies

Scheduled presenters at the event will include experts from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Children's National Health System; Food Allergy Research & Education; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Children’s Hospital has been involved in numerous food allergy studies, including an international, multi-center study investigating whether the Viaskin® Peanut drug patch can desensitize peanut-allergic patients, possibly protecting them from severe reactions in the case of accidental ingestion. Later this fall, Children’s will begin a similar study involving use of a milk patch.

For more information or to register for the conference, visit www.chp.edu/pghfa.

Media interested in attending, please contact Andrea Kunicky at 412-692-6254 or by email at andrea.kunicky@chp.edu.

Andrea Kunicky, 412-692-6254, andrea.kunicky@chp.edu
Marc Lukasiak, 412-692-7919, marc.lukasiak@chp.edu