Infant Allergy Conference 2021 Programme

Dr Ru-Xin Foong is a Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London and a Paediatric Allergy sub-specialty trainee doctor at the Evelina Children’s Hospital/Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Trust in London. Her research interests focus primarily on paediatric food allergy and she is currently working on completing a PhD which aims to investigate the natural history and health economic burden of food allergies in children over time including the identification of clinical factors and immunological markers predictive of food allergy resolution. Her research work also extends to clinical data collection for the LEAP Trio, EAT-On and BAT 2 studies as well as being a sub-investigator for various peanut immunotherapy commercial trials conducted at our dedicated paediatric allergy research unit.

Current position- I am currently a consultant Paediatrician in Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital NHS FOUNDATION TRUST over 14 years.

Training- I am trained in Manchester and London. I have a MSc in allergy from Imperial College London.

My area of interest—

1.     Cow’s milk protein allergy in infants with co-morbidities . We have introduced a combined milk allergy pathway in primary and secondary care  which is computer based diagnostic and management algorithm for CMPA . We are running a QI called Hypo-allergenic formula in infancy(HYFI)  to improve milk allergy management in our area.

2.     Component resolved diagnosis  in safe introduction of food in resource restricted settings.

3.     My interest in Prebiotic is mainly with PiPs trial where I was the local investigator in Basildon

Clinical commitments-I run a BSACI accredited secondary allergy service in Basildon.

Recent presentations in international conferences

IPEX Syndrome- 2 different presentations in siblings- Accepted and presented in British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology conference in Telford in 2020.
Use of component resolved diagnosis(CRD) in home introduction of peanut & hazelnut in multiple nut sensitization-Experience of an English University Hospital. PAAM, Florence, Italy, Oct 2019
Computer based diagnosis and management algorithm for cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA) in primary care- proof of concept study. Oral presentation European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology International Congress,Lisbon,Portugal ,June 2019.
Hospital referrals for primary childhood immunisation-Experience of a busy district General Hospital- Accepted and presented in British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology conference in Telford in 2018.
 
Use and misuse of amino-acid based formula-tale from a district general hospital. Accepted and presented in British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology conference in Telford in 2018.

Lydia graduated from the University of Plymouth with BSc(Hons) Dietetics in 2013 and started her dietetic career at Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and moved quickly into a paediatrics where her passion for food allergy started. For the last 4 years she has worked at Oviva UK Ltd in the CMPA programme where she went onto win the Barry Kay Award in Allied Health at British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology(BSACI) 2019 for her work in NHS Grampian. More recently, she has transitioned into a part time partnerships and research role for Oviva. Lydia also joined AllergyUK in May 2021 as a Dietetic Advisor. Outside of work, Lydia is the secretary for the BDA Food Allergy Specialist Group (FASG) as well as recently completing her MSc in Paediatric Dietetics. Her research dissertation title was ‘dietitians perception of the benefits and limitations of using telehealth for the management of infants with non-IgE mediated cow’s milk protein allergy’.

Andrea Moreno is the Dietetic Lead for Allergy in the Merseyside area, a role that involves a main caseload within the Tertiary Allergy Service in Alder Hey, whilst closely working with the Community Dieticians providing them with support and supervision. She is very experienced in dealing with infants suffering with CMPA, as her previous role involved a mixture of outpatient clinics (both general paediatrics and allergy/gastroenterology) and on the paediatric ward of a general hospital.

Emma Amoscato is a former national features journalist and is the author of two books on allergies, both clinically reviewed and endorsed by Allergy UK.

Living With Allergies is a practical guide for parents and You, Me & Food Allergies is an illustrated non-fiction book for primary school children.

Emma has two children with multiple anaphylactic allergies and is passionate about supporting families with the accompanying anxiety many face. She is completing a masters in the psychology and neuroscience of mental health at KCL and is the founder of SMILE, a new mental health platform for people managing long-term health conditions.