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University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine (Tampa, United States)

 

University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine
Division of Allergy and Immunology
Department of Internal Medicine

The late Samuel C. Bukantz, MD, founded the Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, in 1972. Richard F. Lockey MD succeeded Dr. Bukantz in 1983 and is the current Director of the Division. These two internationally acclaimed physician scientists established a Clinical Research Unit and a training program for physicians to become allergists/immunologists in 1977.  The Division has 10 core, 8 joint (with the Pediatric Division of Allergy and Immunology) and 10 clinical faculty members.  In addition to Dr. Richard Lockey, the core faculty consists of Thomas B. Casale, MD, Roger W. Fox, MD, Dennis K. Ledford, MD, Seong H. Cho, MD, Mark C. Glaum, MD, PhD, Narasaiah Kolliputi, PhD, Michael N. Teng, PhD, Blanca Camoretti-Mercado, PhD, Lakshmi Galam, PhD, and Farnaz Tabatabaian, MD. All faculty members of the Division are actively involved in both teaching and research.  The Division presently supports 6 fellows-in-training, and with the Pediatric section at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, has trained over 130 allergists/immunologists and numerous American and foreign post-graduate and graduate research scholars.  Many of these trainees are now faculty members in academic centers throughout the world.  Both the medicine and pediatric sections are supported by funds donated for teaching, research, and patient care and by secured grants for research from the National Institutes of Health, the American Lung Association, American Heart Association, various foundations, and the pharmaceutical industry. 

The Division’s core and joint faculties include four past-presidents of the prestigious American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology.  These include Richard F. Lockey, MD, Dennis K. Ledford, MD, Mark Ballow, MD, and Tom B. Casale, MD.  In addition, the Division’s faculty members are widely published, in the most prestigious journals of the world, including Science, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, as well as the Journal of American Medical Association.  They have also received numerous awards on a national and international level.  In addition, Dr. Richard Lockey has served as a World Allergy Organization (WAO) president from 2010-2012.

The research program expanded in the late 1990’s when endowments were donated by grateful friends.  Mrs. Joy McCann Culverhouse endowed the Division in 1997 and The Joy McCann Culverhouse Airway Disease Research Center was dedicated in February 1998. In 1998, Mabel and Ellsworth Simmons endowed the Division with a grant for education and research.  In June, 2000, the Clinical Research Unit was selected as one of 19 American Lung Association’s Clinical Research Centers, a network of academic asthma research centers dedicated to conduct multicenter clinical research trials in asthma and other airway diseases that are relevant to practical questions about treatment.   Basic and clinical research interests include the pathogenesis and treatment of asthma and allergic diseases, aerobiology, primary and secondary immunodeficiency diseases, HIV, bone marrow transplantation, insect hypersensitivity, allergen immunotherapy, co-morbid conditions affecting asthma and upper airway disease, chronic obstructive lung disease, viral respiratory tract infection and asthma, asthma and allergy in the elderly, hereditary angioedema, chronic urticaria and angioedema, atopic eczema, sleep apnea, nasal polyposis, pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, pulmonary artery hypertension and drug allergy.  Pharmaceutical industry sponsored, divisional clinical research projects and federal and non-federal grant funded clinical research projects are conducted at the Clinical Research Unit.

The goals of the Division of Allergy and Immunology are:

-to train students, residents, and fellows in the specialty of allergy and immunology to become academicians and/or practitioners involved in academic medicine.
-to provide outstanding care to patients with allergic and immunologic diseases at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa General Hospital, James A. Haley V.A. Medical Center, All Children’s Hospital, and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center
-to conduct basic and clinical research in allergy, asthma, and immunology
-to be recognized both nationally and internationally for excellence in medicine and the specialty of allergy and immunology

In line with the WAO’s mission to provide direct educational outreach programs, symposia and lectureships to members in nearly 100 countries around the globe, the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine joins forces in educating practicing physicians, fellows, patients families and healthcare practitioners and enhancing their knowledge in allergy and clinical immunology.  We support the WAO’s educational mission by providing educational resources in the form of scientific papers published in major journals, book chapters, internet publications, as well as in person education via seminars and lectures, in different parts of the world where educational resources are limited and allergy and immunology education can provide increased awareness and improved healthcare.