Thomas B. Casale, MD, to Serve as FARE’s Chief Medical Advisor for Operations

Former President of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology brings additional expertise to FARE’s groundbreaking research efforts

McLean, Va. (Feb. 19, 2019) —  Today, Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), the largest private funder of food allergy research in the world, announced that Thomas B. Casale, MD,Professor of Medicine at University of South Florida Health (USF Health) Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, Fla., will serve as FARE’s Chief Medical Advisor for Operations. Dr. Casale will join FARE’s leadership team and play a critical role in achieving FARE’s goals to alleviate the burden of food allergy, a potentially life-threatening disease that has grown dramatically to include 32 million Americans. 

Dr. Casale will help lead implementation of FARE’s strategic research goals, which include elevating quality of life and access to care, facilitating the development of cutting edge therapies, and accelerating innovation in the field. He will also provide guidance on future plans for the FARE Patient Registry, the development of patient-focused resources including food allergy guidelines, the identification of high-quality research of promise, and expanding the scope of the FARE Clinical Network, a collaborative of 33 clinical care and research institutions across the U.S.

Dr. Casale brings extensive research and allergy/immunology experience. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and Chief of Clinical and Translational Research for the USF Department of Internal Medicine’s Division of Allergy and Immunology. He served as President of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) and was Executive Vice President of the AAAAI for 10 years. He was on the Board of Directors of the World Allergy Organization and was Chair of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Casale is a member of the American Thoracic Society and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and has received Distinguished Service Awards from both AAAAI and the World Allergy Organization. 

“The leadership and experience Dr. Casale brings will help FARE drive the development of standards and systems to better support patients and doctors managing this disease. In December, we launched the Contains: Courage™ Campaign, a five-year effort to educate all communities about this disease, and we are thrilled with the contributions Dr. Casale will bring to those efforts,” said FARE CEO, Lisa Gable.

The Contains: Courage™ Campaign also aims to raise a historic amount of money for food allergies, and to support research into new therapies and diagnostics. “As Chief Medical Advisor for Operations, Dr. Casale will be a key player in helping us meet our research agenda goal - to provide more treatment choices to a population that currently only has one option, avoidance,” Gable added. 

Dr Casale has participated in over 250 multi-site clinical trials, been on advisory boards for the development of clinical trials for novel treatments, and the lead investigator on several. He has published over 400 scientific papers, reviews and chapters on his research; organized and directed more than 50 CME programs for local and national meetings; and been a member of the planning committee for five World Asthma Meetings. He has been on the editorial boards of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the European Respiratory Journal, and the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology In Practice.

“Joining FARE as a Medical Advisor will allow me to continue my mission to advance the practice of allergy, asthma and immunology so that doctors and researchers across the country can improve the quality of life of those affected by food allergies,” said Dr. Casale. “I am hopeful that my experience will help improve our current efforts to serve the food allergy community, and inform the direction of future research. FARE is poised to make even more of a significant impact on this disease than they already have, and I am looking forward to supporting their efforts.”

Dr. Casale will join other well-known medical advisors and researchers on FARE’s senior leadership team, including Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, Medical Advisor, Policy, Education and Public Health; Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, Medical Advisor, Innovation; Wayne Shreffler, MD, PhD, Medical Advisor, Research; and Brian Vickery, MD, Medical Advisor, Patient Experience.