Brian J. Hom

Brian Hom has advocated in the food allergy community for more than twelve years. He has made it his personal mission to raise awareness of the dangers of food allergies and to help find a cure as well as the cause of food allergies so no other families have to suffer loss of life from food allergies. Brian’s 18-year-old son, BJ Hom, died on a family vacation in 2008 after eating a dessert that contained traces of peanuts. The family was visiting a resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, to celebrate BJ’s 18th birthday and his graduation from high school. BJ did not have an epinephrine auto-injector with him because his doctors thought his symptoms would always be mild that they never prescribed auto-injectable epinephrine. Brian has two younger sons, Brandon and Steven Hom. Steven, who is now age 18, has the same severe peanut allergy as his older brother BJ and is participating in the Phase 2 Viaskin Peanut Patch Study at Stanford University with Dr. Kari Nadeau to find a cure.

Brian chaired the California Bay Area FAAN Walk for Food Allergy in 2011 and 2012 and has raised more than $290,000 through these events. He was awarded the FAAN Family Advocacy Award in 2010 and was named “Outstanding Volunteer for 2013.” Brian advocated on Capitol Hill for the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act and appeared on Lifetime Network’s television show, “The Balancing Act,” to raise awareness of the dangers of food allergies. Brian filmed a YouTube video for Mylan Corporation called “Food Allergies Don’t Take Vacations” and has appeared on NBC News Bay Area and KPIX Channel 5 and many radio talk shows, sharing his son’s story to raise awareness of the dangers of food allergies. He has also shared his family’s story in two news articles on CNN.com “"Study: Food allergies more common, more severe among children" and “8 percent of US children now have food allergies,” and the San Jose Mercury newspaper.

Brian is also co-founder of the Food Allergy Zone Web site with Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino, which is dedicated to helping us all stay alive and thrive with food allergies and to find the cause and cure for food allergies. Brian has been on the Board of Director of the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board. He has worked closely with Bay-area sports teams – including the Golden State Warriors basketball team, San Francisco Giants baseball team, San Jose SaberCats arena football team, San Francisco Bulls hockey team, and the Oakland A’s and San Jose Giants baseball teams – for Food Allergy Awareness Night Fundraisers with peanut-free and food allergy courteous sections. Brian has partnered with Whole Foods Market and New Leaf Community Market on 5% Charity days as well as with Jamba Juice company. He has worked with musician Kyle Dine on many Bay Area School Assemblies to raise awareness and educate students on the dangers of food allergies. He is also a member of the California Advocates for Food Allergies, which is advocating for mandatory emergency stock epinephrine in California schools.

Brian has a Bachelor’s degree in Managerial Economics and a Master’s degree in Business Management and has been working in the high-tech industry for more than 34 years as a Global Commodity Manager for IBM, Hitachi, and HGST Inc. a Western Digital Company and owns a Vitality Bowls franchise.