Thomas A.E. Platts-Mills, MD, PhD, FRS served as President of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology

American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Founded in 1943, the AAAAI is a professional medical membership organization of nearly 6,500 allergist/immunologists and related professionals around the world with advanced training and experience in allergy, asthma and other immunologic diseases...

 (AAAAI) from March 2006 to March 2007. He is Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 and has been head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology since 1982.

Dr. Platts-Mills went to Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

 and St. Thomas' Hospital Medical School, received his PhD from London University, and completed his fellowship at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1971.

Since 1974, Dr. Platts-Mills has been active in research on allergic disease and has published more than 300 papers. His research includes the first purification and publication of a dust mite allergen

Allergen

An allergen is any substance that can cause an allergy. In technical terms, an allergen is a non-parasitic antigen capable of stimulating a type-I hypersensitivity reaction in atopic individuals....

, the development of immunoassay

Immunoassay

An immunoassay is a biochemical test that measures the presence or concentration of a substance in solutions that frequently contain a complex mixture of substances. Analytes in biological liquids such as serum or urine are frequently assayed using immunoassay methods...

s for dust mite allergens, and the establishment that it is mite fecal particles which are inhaled. Dr. Platts-Mills has researched the immune response to a range of allergens including those from pollens, dust mites, the fungus Trichophyton

Trichophyton

The fungus genus Trichophyton is characterized by the development of both smooth-walled macro- and microconidia. Macroconidia are mostly borne laterally directly on the hyphae or on short pedicels, and are thin- or thick-walled, clavate to fusiform, and range from 4 to 8 by 8 to 50 um in size....

, and domestic cats. In 2010, this research earned Dr. Platts-Mills election as a Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

, the first allergist to be named to this select group.

External links

• AAAAI announcement
• Bio - University of Virginia
• Royal Society Bio