Food Allergy Fund Announces New Research Grant Recipient during 2020 Vision Summit

New York, NY, (December 18, 2020) — The Food Allergy Fund (FAF) is hosting its first-ever Vision Summit to preview the latest research and innovations aimed to prevent and treat food allergies. Speakers include world-renowned researchers, entrepreneurs, policy leaders and advocates. The event will take place on a password protected page of the FAF website on December 18, 2020 from 12 – 4:30 p.m. EST.

During the event, FAF Founder and CEO Ilana Golant will announce the next Innovators Research Grant recipient and share details for the groundbreaking research funded by FAF. In addition, past grant recipients - Dr. Patrick Brennan, assistant professor of allergy and immunology at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Rima Rachid, director of allergen immunotherapy at Boston Children’s Hospital - will share progress updates on their FAF-funded research projects. 

We can’t discuss the future of food allergies without also covering the importance of equity and diversity in the community. Emily Brown, founder of the Food Equality Initiative, and Dr. Ruchi Gupta, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, will discuss racial disparities in food allergy and how to take action. 

As the world delivers the first COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, director of pediatric allergy and immunology at NYU Langone, will address recent concerns about the vaccine during the Summit.

Also, as we work towards a future with more transparent ingredient labels, Dr. Susan Mayne, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA, will provide an update on food labeling. Dr. Alkis Togias, branch chief of allergy, asthma and airway biology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, will share the agency’s future research priorities. 

Food Allergies are the fastest growing childhood disease in America. Six million children—out of 32 million Americans overall—are affected by food allergies. That's about two children per classroom – a 50% increase from 1997 to 2011, and one in 10 adults. Every three minutes, a person visits the emergency room due to an allergic reaction.  

“I’m thrilled to host another phenomenal Food Allergy Fund Summit to help elevate the national conversation on food allergies and raise critically needed funding to support innovative, collaborative research into the causes and treatments for the disease,” said Ilana Golant. “I created FAF two years ago after my daughter was diagnosed with multiple food allergies and I am proud that we are bridging the funding gap as research is needed now more than ever.”

To view the agenda, full list of speakers, and the Summit, visit https://foodallergyfund.org/summit-vision-2020. The event hashtag is #fafvisionsummit.

The Food Allergy Fund is dedicated to funding food allergy research focused on the underlying causes of food allergies and improved treatments for people with food allergies. The Food Allergy Fund enlists celebrity ambassadors, industry partners, and individuals to raise public awareness and to support scientific research. To learn more, visit www.foodallergyfund.org.