Food Allergy Fund Launches Exclusive Research Roadmap to Accelerate Food Allergy Prevention and a Cure

Written By Ilana Golant

New York, NY (May 31, 2024) – The Food Allergy Fund (FAF), the leading nonprofit that funds food allergy research, has marked a significant milestone in the field: A first-ever Food Allergy Research Roadmap, a comprehensive guide designed to accelerate medical discovery and development progress within the next five years. FAF has brought together an exclusive working group of renowned scientists and allergists to identify the root causes of food allergies and focus on cutting-edge approaches to prevent, treat, and cure the disease. In addition, FAF’s Scientific Advisory Board is an unparalleled group of doctors and scientists from leading research institutions across the country. 

While current food allergy research primarily targets disease symptoms and single-food immunotherapy treatments, FAF's Research Roadmap adopts a transformative approach. It prioritizes prevention and cures for multiple food allergies and allergic diseases, developing disease-modifying therapeutics, and catalyzing multiple proof-of-concept clinical trials. The FAF Research Roadmap will serve as a scientific business plan for scientists and funders.  

Over the next five years, FAF will focus on eliminating anaphylactic reactions, inducing and maintaining immune tolerance to foods, and preventing food allergy in the next child or adult. 

FAF's vision includes:

  • Forging partnerships between academia and industry

  • Utilizing AI-driven platforms

  • Recruiting new talent and medical disciplines

  • Hosting curated research retreats

  • Repurposing therapeutics

  • Creating a venture philanthropy platform to address the funding gap

Today, food allergies are a growing concern and a pressing public health issue. The incidence and severity are rising, with 1 in 10 adults and 1 in 13 children affected. More than forty percent of people with food allergies are allergic to multiple foods, and every three minutes, a person visits the emergency room due to an allergic reaction.

"The food allergy community has never had a real-time tool like this roadmap, and it is an essential next step in hastening our progress to find a cure for the disease," said Ilana Golant, founder and CEO of the Food Allergy Fund. "To end food allergies, we have assembled the brightest minds in America to help us map our goals, pool resources, and collaborate across disciplines, proactively changing the research culture."

The ground-breaking Research Roadmap was unveiled at the 9th Food Allergy Fund Summit, which brings together leading experts and advocates. The marquee summit, held at the Paley Center for Media in New York during Food Allergy Awareness Month in May, serves as a platform for sharing knowledge, fostering collaboration, and driving innovation in food allergy research.

Research Roadmap Working Group

  • Dr. Richard Insel, Research Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry

  • Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD, Director, Center for Human Immunobiology; Chief of Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Medicine; Roy and Elaine Patterson Professor of Medicine; Professor of Medicine (Allergy and Immunology) and Pathology, Northwestern University 

  • Dr. Rima Rachid, Director of Allergen Immunotherapy, Allergy and Asthma Program; Co-Director, Food Allergy Program, Boston Children’s Hospital; Attending Physician, Division of Immunology; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

  • Dr. Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD, Director, Division of Allergy and Immunology; Director, Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Scientific Advisory Board

  • Martin J. Blaser, M.D., Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome; Professor, Department of Medicine and Microbiology; Director, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine RBHS, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

  • Scott Boyd, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Boyd Lab for Human Immunology Member; Child Health Research Institute Member;  Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research; Associate Professor of Pathology Stanford University School of Medicine

  • Linda Herbert, Ph.D., Director, Psychosocial Clinical Program, Division of Allergy & Immunology; Assistant Professor, Division of Psychology & Behavioral Health Children's National Health System

  • Wayne I. Lencer, M.D., Chief, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital; Director, Harvard Digestive Diseases Center; Longwood Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

  • J. Christopher Love, Ph.D., Professor of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Associate Member, Broad Institute; Associate Member, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard

  • Rachel L. Miller, M.D., Merksamer Professor in Immunology; Chief, Division of Clinical Immunology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  • Kari Nadeau, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

  • Noah Wolcott Palm, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine

  • Hugh A. Sampson, M.D., Kurt Hirschhorn Professor of Pediatrics; Director Emeritus, Jaffe Food Allergy Institute; Past President, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  • Wayne G. Shreffler, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Pediatric Allergy & Immunology; Director, Food Allergy Center, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

  • Scott H. Sicherer, M.D., Director, Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute; Chief, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  • Marsha Wills-Karp, Ph.D., Co-Chair, Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) National Institutes of Health (NIH); Chair, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  • Gary D. Wu, M.D., Director, Molecular Biology Core; Associate Chief for Research, Division of Gastroenterology; Associate Director, Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Disease; Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

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Media Contact: Amy DiElsi, adielsi02@gmail.com, 215-990-3006

The Food Allergy Fund is the leading nonprofit dedicated to funding food allergy research.  FAF's grants support the creation of new treatments that will address the root causes of food allergies. Through our groundbreaking research and unique thought leadership summits, we accelerate innovation to find solutions. To learn more, visit www.foodallergyfund.org.


Ilana Golant