Programs

Teal Love

FAACT's Global Food Allergy Summit 2021

FAACT’s Global Teal Love Shines Bright Food Allergy Summit is for parents, caregivers, adults with food allergies, school nurses, and more!

Join us virtually on November 13, 2021 from 10am – 5:30pm EST (with a break from 1p-1:30p EST).

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has left us tackling new challenges, living with food allergies and the issues we face do not change. The upcoming 21-22 school year has left many bewildered as to what may lay ahead. To help you tackle this unprecedented year, FAACT will host an information packed Summit focused on what’s important to you. We want to help you stay up-to-date regarding food allergy research and treatments, mental health tips and resources, accommodations in schools during COVID-19, connecting with your community, hearing from teens and young adults on managing their food allergies, and more.

Registration is FREE. Deadline to register is November 11.

Sponsored by: National Peanut Board, DBV Technologies, and Novartis

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FAACT's Teal Love Food Allergy Summit Agenda

10:00am - 10:30am:  FAACT Welcome & Overview

  • Eleanor Garrow-Holding, FAACT President & CEO

10:30am - 11:30am:  The Latest in Food Allergy Research and Quality of Life

  • S. Shahzad Mustafa, MD, FAACT Medical Advisory Board Chair and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Clerkship Director, Allergy & Clinical Immunology for University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY

11:30am - 12:15pm:  Exploring the Nutritional Diet of Patients with Food Allergies and EoE

  • Meghan McNeill, MS, RD, LD, Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders (CCED) at Cincinnati Children's Hospital & Medical Center, Division of Allergy & Immunology

12:15pm - 12:45pm:  Finding Your Food Allergy Voice

  • Caroline Moassessi, FAACT Vice President of Community Relations

12:45pm - 1:15pm:  Creating Connections through Social Media and Education

  • Kristin Osborne, FAACT Vice President of Education

1:15pm - 1:45pm:  Break 

1:45pm - 2:15pm:  Traveling with Food Allergies

  • Kyle Dine, Founder of Equal Eats

2:15pm - 2:45pm:  How to Navigate Food Allergy Fatigue

  • Kristin Osborne, FAACT Vice President of Education

2:45pm - 3:30pm: The Teen and Young Adult's Perspective of Living with Food Allergies and Q&A

  • Panel Discussion

3:30pm - 4:30pm:  Accommodations in Schools: Re-entering during COVID-19

  • Amelia G. Smith, JD, FAACT General Counsel and Vice President of Civil Rights Advocacy

4:30pm - 5:30pm:  Food Allergy Self-care and Holiday Stressors

  • Linda Herbert, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Psychology and Behavioral Health at Children’s National Hospital
  • Nancy Rotter, Ph.D., Director of Psychological Services, Food Allergy Center, Massachusetts General and an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School

5:30pm:  Closing Remarks

About the Presenters

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Eleanor Garrow-Holding, FAACT President & CEO

Eleanor Garrow-Holding has worked, educated, and advocated in the food allergy community since 2004. She was inspired to start this work after her son, Thomas, was diagnosed with life-threatening food allergies to tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and sesame; eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) triggered by milk and wheat; asthma; and environmental allergies. In December 2015, Thomas had a food challenge with wheat and passed. He is no longer IgE-allergic to wheat. After a 3-month trial with wheat and another 3-month trial with milk (post wheat) in his diet and upper endoscopies, he has also outgrown the wheat and milk triggers for EoE and is in remission from EoE as of July 2016. As of October 2019, Thomas has now outgrown peanut, almond, sesame, and brazil nut and continues to avoid walnut, cashew, pecan, hazelnut, and pistachio.

As CEO of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT), Eleanor provides leadership, development, and implementation for all of FAACT’s initiatives and programs, including Camp TAG (The Allergy Gang) – a summer camp for children with food allergies and their siblings that Eleanor founded in 2009. Eleanor has a Bachelor of Healthcare Administration degree from Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, and worked in hospital management for 16 years in Chicago and suburban Chicago prior to working in the nonprofit sector.

Leading the charge at FAACT, Eleanor and the FAACT Leadership Team provides the education, advocacy, awareness, and grassroots outreach needed for the food allergy community. Eleanor serves on the National Peanut Board's Allergy Education Advisory Council, DBV Technologies Peanut Allergy Patient Advisory Board, Sea World's Allergy Resource Team, St. Louis Children’s Food Allergy Management & Education (FAME) National Advisory Board, Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) Food Allergen Control Committee, and The EDGE Teen Center Board of Directors. In August 2015, Eleanor was inducted into The National Association of Professional Women's (NAPW) VIP Professional of the Year Circle for her commitment to healthcare and nonprofit industries. Read full bio here.

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S. Shahzad Mustafa, MD

Dr. Shahzad Mustafa serves as FAACT’s Medical Advisory Board Chair. After growing up in the Rochester, New York area, Dr. Mustafa pursued his undergraduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and attended medical school at SUNY Buffalo. He then completed his internal medicine training at the University of Colorado and stayed in Denver to complete his fellowship training in allergy and clinical immunology at the University of Colorado, National Jewish Health, and Children’s Hospital of Denver.
 
He sees patients out of the Rochester Regional Health System and is heavily involved with the allergy/immunology training program at the University of Rochester, where he is Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine. He is also the clerkship director for the allergy/clinical immunology elective at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
 
Outside of work, Dr. Mustafa is married and has three children, including one child with allergies to peanuts and tree nuts. In addition to spending time with his family, his interests include traveling, photography, and playing squash. Read full bio here.

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Meghan McNeill, MS, RD, LD

Meghan McNeill is a Registered Dietitian at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in the Division of Allergy & Immunology, specializing in nutrition management of patients with food allergies and Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). Meghan has extensive experience in the field of nutrition research working on several grants funded by the National Institute of Health that have focused on bone density, as well as nutrition interventions for adolescents with type 1 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In additional to her work experience, she is the past president of the Greater Cincinnati Dietetic Association. In 2019 she was honored to receive the Recognized Young Dietitian Award from the Ohio Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

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Caroline Moassessi, FAACT Vice President of Community Relations

Caroline Moassessi has a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and has traveled the world as a trainer in this industry. An avid baker, she is finally dabbling in bread making and more cooking. Caroline loves reading, learning, and making jewelry. But most of all, she enjoys living a simple life with her family. She lives in Reno with her husband, college-aged son and high school-aged daughter who manage food allergy and asthma.

Caroline is also the founder and author of the food allergy and asthma blogsite Gratefulfoodie, but her passion for spreading awareness is fueled by the food allergy community and her family. She speaks nationally to the food industry, state, and local groups to raise awareness and to encourage food allergy-related change through policy and education.

Caroline was the lead advocate for mandated school stock epinephrine law in the State of Nevada; in addition to presenting the need for epinephrine legislation at the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), with deceased NCSL past present, Senator Debbie Smith. Caroline co-authored the first school food anaphylaxis policy in the State of Nevada and continues to volunteer her time with the Washoe County School District to support revised policymaking.

Her passion for making change and raising awareness has brought her to Capitol Hill twice to discuss food allergy-related legislation. It continues as she reaches out to her elected officials.

As FAACT's vice president of community relations, Caroline will grow FAACT’s communication and engagement with the food allergy community, host FAACT’s Roundtable Podcast, manage education training programs within food industry, and manage diversity initiatives. Read full bio here.

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Kristin Osborne, FAACT Vice President of Education

Kristin Osborne is a passionate, certified disability advocate and native of Virginia where she has navigated food allergies in her family for over two decades. Her husband and three sons all have various life-threatening food allergies to wheat, dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut, shellfish, and fish. Her first experience with food allergies as a parent was in 2004 when her oldest son had an allergic reaction to shrimp at the age of two. 

She is the founder of Virginia Food Allergy Advocates, a support group whose mission is to educate and advocate for families living with food allergies. Kristin has trained school systems in Virginia by providing food allergy education and Section 504 workshops for school administrators, teachers, staff, and parents. Her work in the community was instrumental in changing Virginia Beach Public Schools' food allergy guidelines to include epinephrine training for bus drivers. The policy requires bus drivers to be trained to administer epinephrine to students who self-carry medication, when needed.

Kristin is a graduate of the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities Partners in Policy (PIP) Making Program. As a certified disability advocate, Kristin navigates food allergies, asthma, ADHD, and anaphylaxis in the community and at home. She served as co-chairman of the Tidewater Alumni Regional Chapter, PIP and worked to engage PIP alumni and advocate for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

As FAACT’s Vice President of Education Kristin will oversee food allergy education in schools, support group development, and other education initiatives and will represent FAACT at medical conferences. Kristin looks forward to continuing her mission of community health and wellness and maintaining her strong commitment to bringing more education and awareness on the issues that accompany food allergies to our families, communities, and schools with FAACT. Read full bio here.

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Kyle Dine

Kyle Dine is a trusted food allergy educator who has performed allergy education assemblies in 900 schools across North America. Kyle was recently awarded the Michelle Harkness Mentorship Award for his work with Food Allergy Canada mentoring children living with food allergies. He is an avid traveler and the Founder of Equal Eats; a company that provides food allergy translation cards in 50 foreign languages.

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Amelia G. Smith, JD, FAACT Vice President of Civil Rights Advocacy

Amelia G. Smith, a native of Tupelo, Mississippi, practiced law in a variety of areas as a managing member of Pipkin & Murphree, PLLC before joining McLaurin Law Offices, PLLC. Amelia received her B.A. in English from Mississippi University for Women and her Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi, where she concentrated on civil rights and employment discrimination.

After her son, Robert, was diagnosed with food allergies, Amelia founded Food Allergic Children’s Education in Tupelo (“FACE IT”), the only support and education organization for families with food allergies in Mississippi at the time. Once she learned about the challenge’s students and families with food allergies face in childcare centers and schools, Amelia developed an interest in special education law. She is a 2012 graduate of William & Mary School of Law’s Institute of Special Education Advocacy. Amelia is admitted to the Bars of the State of Mississippi, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, Lee County Bar Association, and Lee County Young Lawyers Association.

As a member of the FAACT Leadership Team, Amelia’s focus will be on Civil Rights Advocacy, advocating for food-allergic individuals’ rights to safely and equally participate in activities alongside their non-allergic peers. Read full bio here.

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Linda Herbert, Ph.D.

Linda Herbert, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology & Behavioral Health at Children’s National Hospital and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. She is the Director of Psychology Research and Clinical Services for the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Children’s National. Dr. Herbert is an NIH-funded clinical researcher whose research interests include the identification of medical and psychosocial factors related to adjustment to food allergies and the development of clinical interventions that support patients as they pursue treatment for food allergy. Dr. Herbert presents her research at pediatric psychology and allergy conferences and was awarded the Heritage Lectureship by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology in 2018. She regularly engages in advocacy work with local and national food allergy-based organizations such as Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT), Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), and Allergy & Asthma Network (AAN).


Nancy Rotter, Ph.D.

Nancy S. Rotter, PhD, is a pediatric psychologist in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is the Director of Psychological Services at the Food Allergy Center and the Director of Psychology in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ambulatory Care Division at MGH. Dr. Rotter has been providing therapy to children and their families for 30 years, with a focus on working with children who have medical illnesses. She has been part of the multidisciplinary Food Allergy Center since its inception in 2010. Dr. Rotter regularly mentors and teaches psychology trainees and staff psychologists. She leads efforts to expand integrated mental health care in pediatric programs at MGH. Her research interests include the identification of anxiety and the management of procedural anxiety in children with food allergies.