The Allergy and Immunology program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has made pioneering advancements in Allergy and Immunology for more than 50 years and continues to be one of the largest research groups in Allergy and Immunology in the country. Basic science discoveries have included seminal work on the identification of cysteinyl leukotrienes and their receptors in anaphylaxis and asthma, identification of exercise-induced anaphylaxis as a form of physical allergy, elucidation of mediators implicated in hereditary angioedema, and elucidation of human mast cell growth factors and developmental pathways.
The Division’s home base is in the Hale Building for Transformative Medicine which features eight floors of research space, including basic, clinical and translational research labs, a Human Immunology Center, a single cell RNA-sequencing core, patient information and consent rooms for clinical trials, and an advanced imaging suite. Here MDs and PhDs work in a highly collaborative fashion. In addition to the R01-funded basic science and translational labs focused on eicosanoids, lymphocyte biology, mast cell biology, antibody generation, and respiratory epithelial cells, the group works closely with researchers doing cutting-edge clinical trials, genomic studies, database research and computational analyses across the Longwood Medical Area to speed the process from discovery from bench to bedside.
The Jeff and Penny Vinik Center for Translational Immunology Research is housed within the BWH Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and led by the Division Chief, Dr. Joshua Boyce. The Mission of the Center is three-fold:
- To support early-stage groundbreaking research into the immunopathologic basis of human disease
- To train the next generation of immunologists and prepare them for independent careers in research\
- To train and support the career development of academic physician-scientists in the field of Allergy and Immunology
Since 2011, the Vinik family has provided generous endowment support for these efforts, enabling the Center to support high-risk, high-reward projects and to build an unparalleled team of investigators, all with independent federal funding, to collaboratively pursue studies aimed at identifying causes of immune-mediated disease that lead to breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment.
Research Faculty
- Barbara Balestrieri, MD - Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Lora G. Bankova, MD - Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Nora A. Barrett, MD - Associate Professor of Medicine
- Joshua Boyce, MD - Professor of Medicine
- Patrick J. Brennan, MD, PhD - Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Kathleen M. Buchheit, MD - Instructor in Medicine
- Maria C. Castells, MD - Professor of Medicine
- Daniel Dwyer, PhD - Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Dinah Foer, MD - Instructor in Medicine
- Matthew P. Giannetti, MD - Assistant Professor of Medicine
- Tanya M. Laidlaw, MD - Associate Professor
- Kathleen A. Lee-Sarwar, MD - Instructor in Medicine
- Margee Louisias, MD, MPH - Instructor in Medicine
- Jun Nagai, PhD - Instructor in Medicine
- Alberta L. Wang, MD - Instructor in Medicine
- Duane R. Wesemann, MD, PhD - Associate Professor
- Ayobami Akenroye - Faculty Member
