From the Lab to Real Life
Research is a cornerstone of the Allergy and Immunology Program at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, offering physicians and trainees the opportunity to engage in impactful, discovery-driven work alongside nationally recognized investigators.
Our faculty include NIH-funded researchers leading studies in asthma and respiratory disease, food allergy, and eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases. Trainees and faculty collaborate on novel investigations into disease pathogenesis, translational and clinical trials, and new therapeutic approaches—while also addressing health disparities and improving education and healthcare delivery.
Advance your academic career through innovative allergy and immunology research in an environment that supports mentorship, collaboration and meaningful contributions to the future child health.
Our physician-scientists and researchers collaborate with investigators from other sections to address issues ranging from asthma and lung disease to food allergies and environmental toxicants. Our work doesn’t end in the lab; many of the studies our team is actively pursuing include clinical research and trial programs.
Some key areas of research within the Allergy and Immunology section include:
- Asthma and Lung Disease
- Asthma disparities and health outcome research
- Technology-based solutions research
- Lung Cell Biology Laboratory focused on human lung platforms and viral-mediated lung disease
- Cross-sectional prospective studies of asthma exacerbations and viral infections
- Clinical trials and population-based studies
- Food Allergy
- Food allergy immune therapeutics translational research program
- Food allergy clinical trials
- Food allergy birth cohort and longitudinal study
- Food allergy clinical registry
- Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Gastrointestinal Disorders (EGID)
- Eosinophilic esophagitis translational research laboratory
- EGID clinical research program
- Clinical trials and immunotherapeutics in EGID
- EGID clinical registry
- Environmental Toxicants and Immune Dysregulation
- Environmental toxicant and immunology laboratory
- Environmental toxicants and food allergy research
- Obesity, Nutrition and Metabolic Stress
- Cellular bioenergetics and metabolism laboratory
- Bioinformatics and Clinical Trial Implementation
- Bioinformatics in clinical trials network studies
Highlighted Faculty Publications
- Margiotta C, Seminara E, Pesek RD, et al. Implementation of early peanut introduction among providers in a southern US state. J Allergy Clin Immunol Glob 2026; 5: 100658.
- Chinthrajah RS, Kulis M, Jones SM, et al. Exploratory analyses of predictors and correlates of response to omalizumab therapy in patients with multiple food allergies. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2026; 157: 442-453.
- Sindher SB, Chehade M, Dellon ES, et al. Management of gastrointestinal symptoms during oral immunotherapy: Guidance from OUtMATCH investigators. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 2026; 14: 772-779.
- Dantzer JA, Virkud YV, Cox AL, et al. Early-life peanut oral immunotherapy associated with long-term ingestion and immunologic changes. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2026; in press.
- Mahmood L, Sarkar KR, Neal K, et al. Video directly observed therapy to improve inhaler technique among pediatric patients with persistent asthma. J Asthma 2025; 62: 1591-1598.
- Perry TT. Leveraging telemedicine and smartphone to delivery asthma care. Respir Care 2025; 70: 700-708.
- Halterman JS, Fagnano M, Tremblay P, et al. Effect of the telemedicine enhanced asthma management-uniting providers (TEAM-UP) program on asthma outcomes: a randomized clinical trial. J Pediatr 2026; 289: 114872.
- Collins MH, Pan Z, Yang GY, et al. Patient-reported outcome scores are comparable in multiregional versus uniregional eosinophilic esophagitis. Gastro Hep Adv 2025; 24: 100753.
- Jones C, Laws M, Yousuf S, Delo A, Hartzell S, Kinder E, Ingold A, Boyanton BL Jr, Frederick D, Frenner RA, Hathorn E, Mourani PM, Kennedy JL. From lockdown to recovery: changing patterns of viral infection severity in a pediatric cohort with asthma. Front Allergy. 2025;6:1645968.
- Miller M, LaFuze A, Leslie E, Svyatskaya S, Choi GS, Kennedy JL, Croft M, Broide DH. Asthma Associated Cytokines Regulate Gasdermin A and Gasdermin B Expression by Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells. Clin Exp Allergy. 2025 Jul;55(7):586-588