FACES Conference

Like all parents of a child with life-threatening food allergies, I go through the ebb and flow of handling these demands daily.  There are days when I can work through the demands without a problem, but there are also days when I struggle. My background in marketing and analysis has enabled me to leverage research and data to help me more deeply understand the challenges of living with special dietary needs, which is strangely therapeutic.  These facts about food allergies and EOE help me validate just how different and challenging it really is, and understanding the issue (and the fact that I am not alone in dealing with these challenges) enables me to better prepare my son to manage these demands himself now and into young adulthood.

In an effort to learn about relevant research, I try to attend conferences related to managing food allergies and eosinophilic disease.  These conferences typically offer a couple different tracks of age-related content - while I listen to the adult presentations, my teenage son can attend breakout sessions for tweens/teens, which he has found valuable.  Hearing first-hand how other teens navigate daily life with these challenges gives him perspective that I cannot as a parent.  Exposing him to all the little nuances of learning how to live around food when it’s there, and even when it’s not.

The most recent conference I attended was FACES (Food Allergy Conference for Education and Science) 2021, from the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research (CFAAR).  I was drawn to their founding director, Dr. Ruchi Gupta MD MPH.  She has a world-renowned resume of groundbreaking research in food allergy and asthma epidemiology, which focuses on various aspects of food allergy prevention, socioeconomic disparities in care, and daily management.  Dr. Gupta has such a deep passion for her work, and her energy is infectious. It is evident she is aware of the impact to quality of life when living with strict food limitations. She has a teenage daughter with food allergies and has lived through the nuances of managing these daily demands herself.

In addition to Dr. Gupta, the FACES conference included presentations from other physicians, researchers, psychologists, and counselors.  Among the many topics discussed, I found these areas most interesting:

• The latest research in food allergy trends from youth into adulthood

• The breakdown of concerns by age group: early childhood, teens, and college-aged children

• A summary of research related to treatment and the latest options in oral immunotherapy, sublingual immunotherapy, biologics, patch, etc.

• Guidance for children and adolescents on how to advocate for themselves

Conferences provide the latest research findings and data, but they also provide a social connection to a community living with similar challenges.  There is a level of comfort and optimism generated by knowing there are many who have laid a path before us to follow as a guide in navigating the everyday.

The pandemic has posed a challenge for conferences to continue but there are some food allergy and eosinophilic disease conferences upcoming.  Check out these websites for dates and details:

FACES (Food Allergy Conference for Education and Science), June 2022

Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research (CFAAR) 

American Partnership for Eosinophilic Diseases (Apfed)

Food Allergy Awareness and Education (FARE)

Are there any conferences you have attended that you’ve found helpful?  Reach out and let me know.