Welcome to the Clinical Immunology and Allergy Newsletter
As Interim Departmental Division Director, I would like to take the opportunity to introduce the Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy in this inaugural newsletter. The Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, with three full-time and six part-time faculty, continues to build on a solid foundation of education, basic, translational and clinical research and professional activity. We routinely host trainees from across the country and overseas.
I’d like to first acknowledge Dr. Gord Sussman, the division’s former DDD, for his tremendous leadership in the division and for his work as a pioneer in immunology and allergy. Additionally, we thank Dr. Stephen Betschel, who very capably led our residency training program over many years. Stephen has passed the torch on to Dr. Christine Song, who we welcomed last year as our incoming Program Director. Christine has continued to enhance our program and has attracted superb candidates from across Canada. I also want to extend a warm welcome to our new residents, Drs. Erika Lee and Aled Iaboni joining Drs. Irene Chair, Kun Tian and Baruch Jakubovic.
Division members have been actively involved in cutting edge research with numerous regional, national and international presentations and peer-reviewed abstracts presented at national and international meetings. Members have also participated in national and international expert panels in chronic spontaneous urticaria, hereditary angioedema, mast cell disorders, immunodeficiency, food allergy and anaphylaxis.
The urticaria and angioedema clinic under Gord’s leadership has been designated as Canada’s only such centre of excellence. Gord was one of Canada’s delegates to the global urticaria forum in Berlin and Canada’s representative on the expert international urticaria guideline panel. He has been active in clinical trials of subcutaneous C1 esterase inhibitor in HAE, omalizumab in chronic spontaneous urticaria, and epicutaneous immunotherapy in peanut allergy. Gord stepped down as departmental division director for Clinical Immunology and Allergy in September of 2017, but continues in his role as president of the Allergy Asthma and Immunology Society of Ontario. On behalf of the members of the division, I want to thank Gord for representing our division and our specialty so well at the University.
In addition to his recently completed term as program director in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Stephen Betschel serves as chair of the board of the Canadian Hereditary Angioedema Network and chair of the CHAEN guideline committee. He is vice-chair of the subspecialty examination committee for Clinical Immunology and Allergy for the RCPSC.
Christine Song is recipient of a Postgraduate Innovation Fund grant to develop an anaphylaxis simulation teaching and assessment curriculum. She is collaborating with Elizabeth Tullis in a retrospective analysis of drug desensitizations in patients with cystic fibrosis.
About Dr. Peter Vadas:
Dr. Vadas has taken over from Gord Sussman as Interim Departmental Division Director. He continues his research in platelet activating factor and PAF acetylhydrolase in severe and fatal anaphylaxis. With colleagues Eyal Grunebaum (HSC), Dean Metcalfe (NIH) and Joshua Milner (NIH) and Marcus Maurer (Berlin), is studying modulation of mast cell activation by autoantibodies against kit and MRGPRX2 receptors in patients with mast cell activation syndrome and idiopathic anaphylaxis. In a study of patients with cholinergic anaphylaxis, is collaborating with Thomas Eiwegger (HSC) and Marcus Maurer (Berlin) to examine the role of autoantibodies against heat shock protein species. continues to spearhead the Regional Anaphylaxis Clinic and the Mast Cell Disorders Clinic. The latter include systemic mastocytosis and mast cell activation syndrome. The Mast Cell Disorders Clinic is recognized as a centre of excellence and is now formally affiliated with the multidisciplinary Ehlers Danlos Program at UHN, along with Medical Genetics at HSC (Roberto Mendoza), and the division of Cardiology at Hamilton General Hospital, McMaster University (Juan Guzman).
