The role of the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Panel is to provide the Anaphylaxis Campaign with expert insight into health and scientific issues related to severe allergies, associated research and advice on related policies and activities.
CHAIR Professor John Warner, Professor of Paediatrics, Imperial College, London and Hon.Professor University of Cape Town, South Africa
Prof Warner is the immediate past-president of the Academic Paediatric Association; Early years theme lead for the NW London CLAHRC (an NIHR health service delivery research programme which funded out “itchysneezywheezy” integrated care pathways programme which he leads).
Now retired Prof Warner OBE was the consultant paediatric allergy and chest physician at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Professor of paediatrics at Imperial College London
Professor Warner’s past appointments include Director of Research for the Women and Children’s Clinical Programme Group, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, President of Academic Paediatric Association (GB and I) , and a Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Health Research. He was Editor in Chief of the medical journal Paediatric Allergy and Immunology from 1998-2010.
He has been awarded an OBE for services to food allergy research in 2014 and delivered the Morrow Brown Lecture at the 2014 BSACI meeting. Prof Warner is also a foundation fellow of the European Respiratory Society The JE Purkyne Medal of the Czech Medical Society for work in paediatric respiratory medicine and allergy (April 2001), William Frankland Award, British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2005 – for services to allergy) , a lifetime achievement award from European Respiratory Society 2009. He delivered the Pepys lecture during the BSACI annual meeting 2011.
Dr Andrew Clark, Consultant in Paediatric Allergy, Cambridge University Hospital Trust
Dr Andrew Clark is an expert in paediatric allergy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. He is perhaps best known for his exciting study of oral desensitisation for peanut allergy which was published in January 2014. He has written many other peer reviewed articles which have influenced clinical practice, exploring definition of the underlying mechanisms, clinical and epidemiological features of food allergy, use of diagnostic tests and the impact of management plans on allergy outcome. Dr Clark has always worked closely with the Anaphylaxis Campaign in both his clinical and research work.
Following completion of medical school training at St George’s Hospital in 1992, Dr Clark underwent training as a paediatrician at St Thomas’ and Guy’s Hospitals, followed by higher specialist paediatric training at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Subsequently Dr Clark completed a doctoral thesis and clinical training in paediatric allergy under the supervision of Dr Pamela Ewan, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Dr Clark was appointed consultant in paediatric allergy at Addenbrooke’s in 2003 and he now runs the paediatric allergy service there.
Dr Clark is Chair of the Standards of Care Committee of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which writes national guidelines for specialist allergy care. He is also Secretary to the European Taskforce on the Allergic Child at School, and was recently appointed expert advisor to the Committee on Toxicity to review peanut avoidance advice given during pregnancy and early childhood. He is a regularly invited speaker at national and international allergy conferences, a reviewer for the major allergy journals and a research reviewer for the Food Standards Agency.
Sue Clarke, Practice Nurse and Nurse Advisor, Cambridge
Sue has worked in the community for most of her nursing career, as a Practice Nurse and a Health Visitor. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Health Visiting and is also on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Health Visiting. Sue is the Nurse Advisor and a Trustee for the Anaphylaxis Campaign and has developed their Allergywise eLearning courses which are designed for healthcare professionals to provide in depth information on managing severe allergy. Sue also works as a Lecturer in Allergy and was the Clinical Lead for Allergy and Paediatric Respiratory for Education for Health for 4 years running their degree level Allergy programme. Sue has been involved in the development of several NICE guidelines, including NICE guidelines on food allergy in children (CG116) and NICE guidelines on Anaphylaxis (CG134) published in 2011, the NICE quality standard for eczema in children (2013) and the quality standard for food allergy and anaphylaxis published in 2016.
Dr Alexandra Croom, Consultant Allergist, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester
Professor Tara Dean, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), University of Brighton
Professor Dean is a Professor of Health Sciences who is an internationally recognised authority in the area of epidemiology of allergic disorders. She joined University of Brighton in 2016 as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and has the strategic lead for all research and enterprise activities. She has led on the development of the university’s Research and Enterprise Strategic Plan 2017-2021. In 2020, Professor Dean was appointed as the chair of the International Research Development Network (IRDN) for Universities UK.
Originally from Iran, Tara came to the UK aged 16, as an international student to complete her education. She completed her first degree in Biological Chemistry at the University of Essex and obtained her PhD from Kings College in London in 1989.
Following a post-doc at the National Heart and Lung Institute (now part of Imperial College), Professor Dean moved to the University of Southampton to establish her own research team in the field of Asthma and Allergy. In 1996, she joined the late David Hide to establish the internationally-recognised Asthma and Allergy Research Centre on the Isle of Wight and completed her training in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. During her time at the Allergy Centre, she led on a number of seminal cohort studies focusing on epidemiological aspects of asthma and allergy, and also took up directorship of the Department of Health-funded Research and Development Support Unit for South East Hampshire and Isle of Wight.
Professor Adam Fox, Consultant Paediatric Allergist at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals
Adam read Medicine and Neuroscience at Cambridge University before completing his clinical training at University College, London. Having completed specialist training in Paediatric Allergy in 2006, he is now a consultant and joint clinical lead of Allergy at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals, London. He obtained his higher degree (MD) from Cambridge University in 2011.
Adam chaired the Department of Health commissioned RCPCH National Care Pathway for Food Allergy in Childhood and was part of the National Institute of Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline development group for assessment and diagnosis of food allergy in children. He remains an expert advisor to NICE on Allergy. He is also secretary of the British Society of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
Adam’s particular interests are food allergy, immunotherapy and medical education. His clinical role involves the management of children with multiple allergic disease including food allergy, asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis as well as children with difficult eczema where food allergy plays a role. He is currently researching the role of sublingual desensitisation in the prevention of asthma and the use of pre/probiotics in tolerance induction in milk allergy.
Professor Gideon Lack, Professor of Paediatric Allergy, Kings College and Head of Children’s Allergy Service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ London
Professor Gideon Lack is Head of the Children’s Allergy Service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and Professor of Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London. He is Clinical Lead in Adult and Paediatric Allergy.
He read medicine at Oxford University before training as a Paediatrician in New York, and then specialising in Paediatric and Adult Allergy in Denver, Colorado.
He led the Department of Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at St Mary’s Hospital, London for 12 years and became Professor of Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at Imperial College London in 2005. He moved to King’s College London at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in May 2006.
His research has focused on the prevalence of food allergies in children, and the relationship between food allergies, eczema, and asthma. He is currently working on novel immunomodulatory treatments for food allergies and on developing new strategies to prevent the development of allergies and asthma in children and adults.
Dr Anna Murphy, Consultant Respiratory Pharmacist, University Hospitals of Leicester BSc (Hons), M.R.Pharm.S. (SPresc & IPresc), DPharm
Anna Murphy is a consultant respiratory pharmacist at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. Anna led the development of the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA) Respiratory Group and is currently chairperson of this.
The clinical aspect of her post offers assessment, medicines optimisation, monitoring and advice to people with respiratory disease, working both in hospital and within medical practices. Working across Leicestershire the post includes interface care and the development of services for respiratory patients. She recently led a NHS Innovation Project investigating the role of community pharmacists in the management of people with asthma.
Anna currently works with several national groups and organisations on issues surrounding prescribing in respiratory disease. Anna has published widely in peer reviewed journals. She is author of Asthma-in-Focus, a book primarily for pharmacists and other non-medical prescribers and recently produced the ‘7-Steps to Success’ education materials.
Research interests include medicine adherence in people with respiratory disease and pharmacy practice research.
Dr Elizabeth Angier, Portfolio GP, Secretary of the EAACI allied health and primary care group, Senior Research Fellow, Wessex
Liz is the clinical director for primary care at West Hants CCG. She is also a portfolio GP with an extended role in allergy. She qualified in Sheffield, then completed a medical rotation in Australia before returning to the UK to finish vocational training in Yorkshire. She has worked in a tertiary adult allergy clinic for twelve years. She has a particular interest in anaphylaxis and teenagers. She is committed to improving the patient’s journey across the health system and improving the care of allergy in the community. She has an MSc in allergy from Southampton and is hoping to combine her current role with further study and research. She also has interests in leadership, health systems, quality improvement and guidelines. She is a past chair of the BSACI primary care group and current chair of the EAACI Primary care working group.
Dr Michael Radcliffe, Consultant in Allergy Medicine, University College London
Dr Michael Radcliffe is a specialist physician whose practice is devoted to Allergy Medicine. After graduating from the School of Medicine at Birmingham University in 1970, he completed his clinical training in Nottingham. During his twenty years as GP in Hampshire, he gained a special interest in allergy and developed this interest by visiting Allergy Centres in Europe and the USA. In 1997 he became eligible to be registered as an Allergy Specialist with the General Medical Council and was appointed Allergy Consultant at University College London Hospitals.
Professor Jurgen Schwarze, Edward Clark Chair of Child Life and Health, Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh
Aziz Sheikh, Professor of Primary Care Research and development. The University of Edinburgh
Aziz trained in Physiology and Medicine, graduating from University College, London in 1990 and 1993. After completing his training in general practice, Aziz decided to pursue an academic career specialising in the field of epidemiology. He has held academic posts in the Departments of Primary Health Care & General Practice at Imperial College, London and Public Health Sciences at St George’s Hospital Medical School, London. He has since August 2003 held the post of Chair in Primary Care Research & Development in the Centre for Population Health Sciences at The University of Edinburgh and since 2011 he is Research Director in the Centre for Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.
His research interests include the epidemiology and primary care management of asthma and allergic disorders, medical errors and patient safety, and studying the intriguing relationship between religion, culture and health and he has published and presented extensively in these areas in leading peer-refereed journals and international academic conferences/symposia.
Aziz enjoys a number of editorial positions including that of Editor-in-Chief of the Primary Care Respiratory Journal, Associate Editor of Clinical and Experimental Allergy, Associate Editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Methodology Section Editorial Advisor of PLoS Med, and Editorial Board Member of Diversity in Health and Social Care.
He is Clinical Champion in Allergy (Royal College of General Practitioners) and is also a Member of the WAO Special Committee on Anaphylaxis.
Since 2008 Aziz has been working as an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
Dr Isabel Skypala, Clinical Lead for Food Allergy, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London
Isabel is the Director of Rehabilitation and Therapies at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, which involves the management and strategic planning of all therapy and psycho-social services within the Trust. In addition to her managerial duties, Isabel has practised as a specialist allergy dietitian for more than 30 years, her main clinical experience being with adult patients. She established and runs a very successful foo
d allergy service at the hospital in conjunction with medical colleagues.
Apart from her clinical work, Isabel has also undertaken numerous academic studies, completing a postgraduate diploma in Allergy at Southampton in 2006 and a doctorate at Kings College in 2010.
The doctorate was on the diagnosis of food allergy, with particular reference to Oral Allergy Syndrome, the research output from which has been presented at international Allergy meetings in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Isabel also lectures nationally to both undergraduate and Master level students on food allergy at Imperial, Kings College and Southampton University, and has been an invited speaker at several national conferences including those of the British Thoracic Society, the British Dietetic Association (BDA), the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) and the British Toxicology Society.
She has written two book chapters on food allergy, and also edited and co-authored a book on food allergy, published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2009. Isabel was a founder member of the Food Allergy and Intolerance Specialist dietitians group of the BDA. She chaired the group for four years from its inception in 2003 and continues to be an active member. In collaboration with two other dietitians, Isabel has also established an international network for people who work in food allergy and nutrition. The network, known as INDANA, was officially launched at the recent European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) meeting in London and is now officially recognised by EAACI. Isabel has also acted in an advisory capacity to both the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency on food allergy.
Professor George du Toit, Professor of Paediatric Allergy, King’s College London and Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
George du Toit is Professor of Paediatric Allergy, King’s College London and Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. George is an Investigator on the following studies: NIH-funded LEAP-Trio research study and EAT-On Study, these studies are focused on the prevention of food allergy. George is PI on numerous Peanut Desensitisation trials aimed at the treatment of peanut allergy. George is the lead clinician for the Children’s Drug Allergy service at Evelina London Children’s Hospital and past Chairperson of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Paediatric Section.
Dr Jo Walsh, Part-time GP, Norfolk
Jo is a part- time GP in Norfolk, working also as a tutor with undergraduate medical students at the University of East Anglia. Having qualified from The University of Manchester, she worked in several paediatric posts in the North of England before commencing her GP training in East Anglia. She has always incorporated her interest in Paediatrics into her daily practice and more recently developed an interest in allergy. Her knowledge of Primary Care combined with her interest in allergy puts her in a unique position which has led to her involvement in several national allergy projects.
Dr Paul Williams, Retired Consultant Clinical Immunologist, Department of Immunology, University Hospital of Wales
Dr Paul Williams DM FRCP FRCPath was educated at Jesus College, Oxford and Oxford University Clinical Medical School, qualifying in Medicine in 1979. He has been Consultant Clinical Immunologist in Cardiff since 1995. He trained in General and Thoracic Medicine at Birmingham and Cardiff, clinical and laboratory research into primary immunodeficiency disorders and HIV biology at Edinburgh and at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington DC, and clinical and laboratory Immunology at Birmingham. His clinical, laboratory and research interests have been in immunity to infection, primary and secondary immunodeficiency diseases, clinical allergy and immune responses to cancer, with over 60 publications in these areas.
He was a member of the Department of Health’s National Allergy Advisory Group in 2005/6 and of the Strategy group of the ensuing Allergy Skills for Health group in 2007/8. He chaired the UK National Quality Assurance Advisory Panels in Immunology, which oversees quality assurance of Immunology tests and was recently a member of the Immunology panel of the National Pathology Benchmarking service. His professional roles in 2012 include:
- Chair of the South of the UK Clinical Immunology Audit Group
- Chair of the Association of Clinical Pathologists Immunology Committee
- Member of the Executive committee of the British Society for Immunology Clinical Immunology & Allergy Section
- Member of the Royal College of Pathologists Standing Advisory Committee on Immunology
- Member of the Joint (Royal College of Physicians & Royal College of Pathologists) Committee on Immunology and Allergy
Tanya Wright, Highly Specialised Allergy Dietitian, Children’s Allergy Service at Guys and St Thomas` Hospital, London
Tanya Wright is a registered Dietitian specialising in the diagnosis and management of food allergy and other food hypersensitivity reactions in children and adults with gastrointestinal, dermatological and respiratory symptoms.
She works in the Paediatric Allergy Service at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation trust — a centre of excellence, and also within Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is a committee member of the Food Allergy and Intolerance Group of the BDA (resources), a Steering group committee member for the International Dietitians Allergy Group INDANA, on the scientific board of the Anaphylaxis Campaign and on the Health Advisory Board of Allergy UK.
She is author of several books and recipe books; Food Allergies: Enjoying Life with a Severe Food Allergy(Class Publishing 2001, 2007), Allergy-free Food (Hamlyn 2002) milk free cookbook for infants (Cow & Gate 2006, Danone 2011), I’m Hungry — Easy Family Recipes free from… (2011, 2nd Edn 2012, 3rd Edn 2013) and has contributed to books entitled ‘Latex Intolerance’ (CRC press 2005) and Food Hypersensitivity (Blackwell 2010) and various other publications. She regularly lectures at National conferences and on both the post graduate Masters Allergy Courses at Imperial College London, for the Allergy Academy and many other undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
She writes articles and recipes, is a regular consultant to the food industry, to Allergy Support Associations and to other health professionals. She also runs special diet cookery courses for individuals and healthcare professionals.
Dr Deb Marriage, Consultant Nurse, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children
Deb Marriage is the Consultant Nurse for Asthma & Allergy at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children where she has worked since the allergy service began in 2002. She previously worked in allergy at St Mary’s Hospital, London. Deb has successfully completed the MSc in Allergy at Southampton University and a Professional Doctorate in Health at the University of Bath. She is an advocate for nurse-led services and in promoting the extended role of nurses. She enjoys research and her particular interests are in asthma, and in egg and peanut allergy. She is currently involved in joint working projects between primary and secondary care and in developing closer links with community services.
Dr Mich Lajeunesse, Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at Southampton Children’s Hospital
Dr Mich Lajeunesse is a consultant in Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at Southampton Children’s Hospital. This is one of only seven centres in the country accredited for training specialists in paediatric allergy and was recognised by the World Allergy Organization as a National Centre of Excellence in 2014.
He is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton and contributes to postgraduate teaching nationally, including the Allergy MSc taught programme at the University of Southampton and the Paediatric Allergy Training courses hosted by the RCPCH. He maintains research interests in food allergy. Previous studies include the SNIFFLE studies on the safety of intranasal flu vaccine in egg allergy.
Dr Karen Murphy, Clinical Psychologist in Paediatric Allergy
Karen Murphy is a Chartered Psychologist accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a registered Clinical Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Karen completed her Masters in Mental Health Studies at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London before going on to complete her Clinical Psychology Doctorate at the University of Surrey.
Since qualifying in 2018, Karen has worked within the Children’s Allergy Service at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital. As well as providing psychological support to children and families, she has delivered presentations on the psychological impact of allergies for the Allergy Academy, community study days for health care professionals and as part of the Postgraduate Diploma in Allergy at Imperial College London. In addition to her role within the NHS, Karen also works in her own private practice.
Dr Tariq El-Shanawany, Consultant Clinical Immunologist, University Hospital of Wales
Tariq El-Shanawany graduated from Cambridge University and Guy’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine and then undertook general medicine training in London, Worthing and Oxford. After specialising in immunology at the University Hospital of Wales, he was appointed, in 2010, as consultant clinical immunologist at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, which provides allergy services for patients across south Wales. More recently he has been appointed as the clinical lead for the adult allergy service. He is active in research and is the Principle Investigator of a number of studies and is also actively involved in teaching students at Cardiff University.
In addition to his clinical work he has represented the specialty in a number of roles. These have included chairing the Immunology Specialist Advisory Group reporting to the Welsh Government and committee roles for the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, British Society of Immunology and Association of Clinical Pathologists.
Rachel de Boer, Principal Paediatric Dietitian, Evelina Children’s Hospital London
