AAAAI Annual Meeting 2019: What to Expect

This article is part of Pulmonology Advisor‘s coverage of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology annual meeting, taking place in San Francisco, California. Our staff will report on medical research related to asthma, allergy, and other respiratory conditions, conducted by experts in the field. Check back regularly for more news from AAAAI 2019.

The 2019 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting will take place from Friday, February 22, through Monday, February 25, 2019, in San Francisco, California.

The theme of this year’s meeting is Food Allergy: Advances in Prevention and Treatment, which is an important issue to AAAAI President Robert A. Wood, MD. Dr Wood’s initiatives focus on optimal care of the person with food allergy, including taking a rational approach to treatment, optimizing prevention, making an accurate diagnosis, and adhering to anaphylaxis best practices.¹

In the AAAAI program welcome letter, Dr Wood noted that the theme “reflects the increasingly important role food allergy is playing in our specialty. This role will only increase as the disease becomes more prevalent and treatments become available.”²

The AAAAI meeting theme webpage also touched on the possibility that clinicians could see US Food and Drug Administration-approved peanut allergy therapies in the near future.

Featured sessions at the annual meeting include a plenary on Optimal Care of the Food Allergic Patient and symposia on Food Allergy Prevention: To Screen or Not to Screen, That is the Question; Implementation of Food Immunotherapy into Clinical Practice, and Emerging Food Allergy Therapies. Additional sessions will center on peanut allergy, the microbiome in food allergy, a pro/con debate on oral immunotherapy use in food allergy, and advancing care for anaphylaxis and food allergy in schools. Approximately 20% of the AAAAI sessions will be devoted to the theme of food allergy.

However, there will be more than 150 sessions offered at this year’s AAAAI meeting, organized by tracks such as Asthma, Autoimmune/Autoinflammatory Disorders, Lung Diseases Other than Asthma, Mast Cell/Eosinophilic Disorders, Rhinosinusitis, and Immune Mechanisms.

In addition, on Saturday, February 23, the keynote address, “Constructing Individualized Health Course Trajectories to Construct Better Models of Asthma and Other Immune/Inflammation Disorders,” will be presented by Eric Schadt, PhD, dean for Precision Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Visit Pulmonology Advisor‘s conference section for continuous coverage from AAAAI 2019.

References

1. AAAAI Annual Meeting. Food Allergy: Advances in Prevention and Treatment. http://annualmeeting.aaaai.org/attendee/annual-meeting-theme. Accessed February 13, 2019.
2. AAAAI Annual Meeting Final Program. https://www.aaaai.org/Aaaai/media/MediaLibrary/PDF%20Documents/Announcements/2019-AAAAI-Annual-Meeting-Final-Program.pdf. Accessed February 13, 2019.