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Specialises in

• Paediatric immunology, infectious diseases & allergy

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• Video and telephone consultations

About me

Helen is a Consultant in Paediatric Allergy, and is the Head of Service for the Children’s Allergy Service at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, St. Thomas’ Hospital; this is the largest Children’s Allergy Service in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. She is the specialty group lead for Allergy, Respiratory, Gastroenterology and Palliative Care. She is the Chairwoman of the Paediatric Section for the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Helen graduated from King’s College, Cambridge University, with double honours in Medicine and Experimental Psychology, before completing her clinical training at the Royal Free and University College London Medical School. She trained in Paediatrics on the South London Paediatric training rotation. She was then awarded one of the few recognised UK Higher Specialist Training posts in Paediatric Allergy and Immunology and trained in some of the UK’s leading teaching hospitals: Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College Hospital, and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Helen, therefore, has dual accreditation and is on the specialist register for both General Paediatrics and Paediatric Allergy. Helen is also certified by the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) as a European Paediatric Allergist. During her training, Helen completed an MSc in Allergy, gaining a distinction at the University of Southampton. She was subsequently awarded a PhD in determining routes of developing peanut allergy, at King's College London University.

In her NHS service, Helen runs general allergy clinics, and leads the joint specialist Allergy / Respiratory service, with Consultant Respiratory Paediatricians. She previously led the joint specialist Allergy / Gastroenterology service with Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologists and ran joint Allergy / Ear, Nose and Throat clinics with Consultant ENT Specialists. She set up and continues to run community Children’s Allergy services, and Allergy Transition services for teenagers, to empower them to better manage their allergies. She was awarded 'Health Professional of the Year' runner-up in 2010 by Coeliac UK.

Helen's clinical and research interests are in food allergy prevention, diagnosis and treatment, immunotherapy, asthma, eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders and eczema. She is leading the Pronuts study; this is a multicentre European study evaluating if, in children with at least one nut allergy, the introduction of other nuts into the diet, can prevent the development of new nut allergies. Helen co-authored the LEAP study (http://www.leapstudy.co.uk), which showed that in young children with eczema, or egg allergy, early introduction of peanut into the diet prevented the development of peanut allergy. She is an investigator for the oral and patch peanut desensitisation trials which are running at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Helen has published a textbook in General Paediatrics (Rapid Paediatrics and Child Health) and has written chapters for Paediatric Allergy books. She has published original research on the role of environmental peanut exposure on the development of peanut allergy, oral tolerance induction and new biomarkers for food allergy. She was awarded the BSACI Barry Kay Award, for research in Paediatric Allergy, in 2013. Helen has written reviews on active management and prevention of food allergies, the use of antihistamines in children, dietary management of peanut allergy and the risks of exposure to food in the environment in allergic patients. She chairs the national atopic eczema guideline group for the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Standards of Care Committee.

Areas of interest

Prevention, diagnosis and management of food allergy; atopic eczema; allergic asthma; allergic rhinitis (hay-fever); immunotherapy to environmental allergens (e.g. house dust mite, pollens, pet dander); allergic conjunctivitis, vernal keratoconjunctivitis, sinusitis; eosinophilic eosophagitis; eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease; insect sting; latex allergy.

Medical secretaries

• Tracy Kennedy
• Children's Allergy Doctors Great Portland Street Hospital 215 Great Portland Street London W1W 5PN
• 020 3146 7721
• admin@childrensallergydoctors.com