Children's Hospital Colorado Named Center of Excellence by Leading Food Allergy Research Organization

Children’s Hospital Colorado was recently named a Center of Excellence by Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), and will join a select group of 22 leading institutions as an inaugural member of the FARE Clinical Network.

Improving the quality of care for patients with food allergies

FARE is a leading nonprofit organization that works on behalf of the 15 million Americans with food allergies. The new FARE Clinical Network was established to accelerate the development of drugs for patients with food allergies, as well as improve the quality of care for these individuals. FARE will initially fund 22 centers of excellence with an investment of over $2 million dollars annually.

“This honor comes as a direct result of Dr. David Fleischer’s efforts to design and implement a Food Allergy Program at Children’s Colorado. With the support of the organization, we have been fortunate to build a world-class allergy section with experts in all aspects of allergy and immunology over a short period of time,” said Dan Atkins, MD, Allergy Section head and co-director of the Gastrointestinal Eosinophilic Disease Program at Children’s Colorado. "Our team is looking forward to continuing to make a difference in the lives of food-allergic patients and their families.”

Collaborating with select centers nationwide to advance the food allergy field

FARE Clinical Network members will serve as sites for clinical trials for the development of new therapeutics and will develop best practices for the care of patients with food allergies. Members of the network will collaborate to advance the field of food allergy, and will also contribute to the development of a national food allergy patient registry and biorepositories.

The inaugural members of the FARE Clinical Network are:

• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
• Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute
• Boston Children’s Hospital
• Children’s Hospital Colorado
• Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
• Children’s Mercy Kansas City
• Children’s National Health System
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital – a facility of Memorial Healthcare System
• Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston)
• National Jewish Health (Denver)
• Rady Children’s Hospital/University of California, San Diego
• Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health
• Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University
• Texas Children’s Hospital Food Allergy Program, Baylor College of Medicine
• The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• The Northwest Asthma and Allergy Center (Seattle)
• The University of Chicago Medicine
• UNC Food Allergy Initiative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson
• UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center Dallas

Members of the FARE Clinical Network were selected through a rigorous application process. Centers are required to address criteria in a number of key areas, including staff credentials, statements regarding their implementation of state-of-the-art diagnostic and clinical practice guidelines and information about their facilities, operational oversight, training, patient satisfaction surveys and quality of life data.

Recognized for providing the highest-quality expertise and services to our patients

The selected Centers provide high-quality clinical and sub-specialty food allergy expertise and services, and are focused on applying new evidence-based knowledge. These Centers also meet high standards for clinical care, teaching and clinical research. FARE will announce additional centers in the near future.

Food allergy is a potentially life-threatening disease and a growing public health issue. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was a 50 percent increase in the number of children with food allergies in the U.S. from 1997 to 2011. Today, one in 13 children in the country has a food allergy – roughly two in every classroom.

To learn more about food allergies and meet our team of world-renown experts, visit the Children's Colorado Pediatric Allergy Clinic.