Puduapakkam K. Vedanthan (PK) is the Lead Editor of the Text Book of allergy for the Clinician, 2nd edition. He is a native of Mysore, India and a graduate of Government Medical College, University of Mysore. He comes from a family of physicians including his father and two of his brothers who were alumni of the same medical college. After his initial training in India, he served as a Straight Medical intern, Resident in Paediatrics and Fellow in Allergy & Immunology in USA. He is board certified by the American Boards of Paediatrics and Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He served for 25 years in Consultation practice in Fort Collins, Colorado. At the same time, he maintained academic affiliation with University of Colorado, Denver where he has been a Clinical Professor of Medicine for the past decade. He has published in both national and international journals, and has been active in academic circle in various capacities. He has contributed to Colorado Medical Society (CMS), Association of American Physicians of Indian origin (AAPI) in several capacities. His major contribution has been in Global medicine, since he established ‘International Asthma Services (IAS), (www.globalchestintitiatives.org) in 1992. IAS has been active in several developing countries like India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Kenya, Russia, Myanmar, Philippines, Argentina, Nepal conducting CMEs for health professionals and Asthma allergy Awareness camps for patients and their families and public in general. IAS has also partnered with major medical institutions in India, namely Christian Medical College-hospital (www.cmch-vellore.edu), Vellore, Tamilnadu and Sir Gangharam Hospital & Research Centre (www.pace@sgrh.com), Delhi, in establishing formal Diploma courses in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. These courses have been very well received and had made a significant impact of the care provided in several developing countries. Dr. Vedanthan has also been involved in providing voluntary medical care to the refugee population from 22 nations in Denver area through Colorado Alliance for Health education & Promotion (CAHEP) for the past 3 decades. In recognition of these activities, IAS was recognized in 2015 by the Centre for Global Health, School of Public Health, University of Colorado by the award of ‘Excellence in Global health’. He has been the recipient of AMA Leadership award, Distinguished Service award, Rotary ‘Service Above Self Award’, International Faculty award, Special Innovator award from the Department of Medicine, University of Colorado, Denver. Harold S. Nelson, MD received an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard College and later earned a doctor of medicine degree from Emory University. He then completed a residency in internal medicine at Letterman General Hospital and a fellowship in allergy/immunology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Nelson has published over 400 articles and book chapters. He has served on the Board of Regents of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), as well as on the Board of Directors of both the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology (ABAI). He was a member of the First, Second and Third Expert Panels of the NIH – NAEPP for developing the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma. Dr. Nelson has been honored with the "Fellow Distinguished Award" and "Gold-Headed Cane Award" by the ACAAI; the "Distinguished Clinician Award" "Special Recognition Award" and "Distinguished Service Award" by the AAAAI; the "Outstanding Clinician Award" from the World Allergy Organization and the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by National Jewish Health. He has also been honored with named lectureships at the annual meetings of the ACAAI 2008-2009, the AAAAI 2001-2017 and the Western Society of Allergy and Immunology 2018-2022.Shripad N. Agashe is a dedicated University teacher and research scientist with rich experience of over three decades in UAS and Bangalore, India. During his academic career, he has guided 22 research students for PhD and published more than 75 research papers in National and International scientific journals. He is the author of the text book "Palyngology and its applications" published in 2006. His recent book, "Pollens and Spores" with special emphasis on Aerobiology and Allergy, jointly authored by Prof. Eric Caulton of U.K was published in 2009. Prof. Agashe was the founder president of the Indian Academy of Allergy from 1990-98. He was also the past President of the Indian College of Allergy and applied Immunology with headquarters in Delhi. His tireless efforts over the tears have succeeded in bringing together basic scientists (aero biologists) and clinicians (allergists) for the common cause of giving relief to allergic patients. He was the pioneer in initiating the daily pollen monitoring and creating awareness among allergy sufferers and clinicians in Bangalore, India. PA Mahesh, completed his undergraduate medical training at KMC, Mangalore in 1992 and his post graduate training in 1997. He is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine at JSS Medical College, Mysore and is a clinician researcher with over two decades of experience in clinical research. His main interest is in research in airway diseases such as asthma and COPD, allergy and infections. He has 123 publications, an h index of 41 and i10 index of 70 and total citations of 22,124 (google scholar). He has been part of large national and international consortiums such as the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), Europrevall, BOLD study I and II, GLIMP, EMBARC, Global Asthma Network (GAN), APRISE and INSEARCH. As part of the International and National (State level collaborators) for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) and Local Burden of Disease (LBD) group he has several publications in high impact factor journals. As PI, Co-Investigator or Mentor on several Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), European Union (FP6) and GHES (NIH, USA), GID (NIH, USA), MRC (UK), Swedish Heart Lung Foundation grants, He has coordinated large-scale epidemiological studies involving house-to-house surveys and schools of more than 1,00,000 subjects. In addition, he has successfully administered the projects (e.g. staffing, research protections, budget) and has collaborated with other researchers from Imperial College, London, UK, Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK, Amsterdam Medical Center and Leiden Medical Center in Netherlands, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Siberian State Medical University in Russia, National Jewish Health, and Yale University, USA and Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He has established 3 cohorts in urban and rural Mysore; Urban adult (BOLD, 7 years old, 3 follow ups), Rural adult (MUDHRA, 10 years old, 4 follow-ups) and Urban child (Europrevall, 1 follow-up).He has reviewed for several national and international journals and conferences. He reviews for 25 international journals and 5 national journals. He regularly reviews abstracts for American College of Chest Physicians, American Academy of Asthma Allergy and Immunology, Global Health Equity Scholars Program (USA) and the Consortium of Universities for Global health (CUGH), USA. He is the current Chairman of the Karnataka State Chapter of Indian Chest Society and is a member of the Governing Council of the American College of Chest Physicians. He has received several awards, Young Scientist Award and Raju award for the best clinical research, ShivPuri oration from the Indian College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, OA Sarma oration from the Indian Chest Society (ICS).Rohit Katial, MD is a Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado. He continues in these roles but also is the Respiratory, National Physician Head in US Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca. Dr. Katial received his B.S. from Georgetown University in Physics, a B.E.E. from Catholic University of America and subsequently an M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He went on to do internal medicine training in the US Army Medical Corps, culminating in specialty training both in Allergy/Immunology (AI) and Clinical Laboratory Immunology. He completed his A/I training at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center/National Jewish Health and clinical immunology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He has served in numerous roles, including Associate Vice President of Clinical Research & Industry Relationships, Co-Director of the Asthma Institute at National Jewish Health, Fellowship Director at National Jewish Health and named the Helen Wohlberg& Herman Lambert Chair in Pharmacokinetics. Other roles have included Director of the Allergy/Immunology Clinical Service. Dr. Katial has an international reputation in airway disease and extensive publications on sinusitis, asthma, particularly on aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease and has particular interest in eosinophilic diseases. He has numerous original publications, as well as edited and authored many book chapters. He was the Principal Investigator for the American Lung Association Airway Clinical Research Consortium, which is a U.S. based airway research network, and has conducted clinical trials for over 20 years. He is also led numerous trials on vaccine immune response, asthma and allergic diseases. Dr. Katial is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, a fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, as well as a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He is the Chair of the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Review Committee for Allergy and Immunology. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Allergy & Immunology with specialty certification in Clinical Laboratory Immunology. He has received numerous awards for his teaching skills and on 6 occasions been listed in the Denver 5280 Magazine’s Top Doctors, as well as yearly in the US News and World Report’s Best Doctors.
