Hear from Our Advisory Panel

Dr. Valerieva is associate professor of allergology at the Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria. She is specialised in allergology and her PhD is in allergology and immunopathology. Dr. Valerieva is a member and part of the Executive Board of the Bulgarian Society of Allergology, and serves as a National Allergy Society representative at the EAACI NAS Committee. She has interest in hereditary angioedema and other rare forms of angioedema. She was trained as a research fellow with Prof. Marco Cicardi at the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, Italy.

In 2018, Dr. Valerieva received a certificate of excellence from the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology for completing the Knowledge Examination in Allergology and Clinical Immunology. In 2019, she was awarded an “Acad. Assen Hadziolov” prize of the Medical University of Sofia for young researchers and contribution to medical science and teaching. Dr. Anna Valerieva is a department deputy of the ACARE Centre in University Hospital Alexandrovska in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Dr. Burnette completed her allergy fellowship training at the University of Virginia. She is a clinical physician specialist who evaluates and manages adult and paediatric patients with allergic disease and immunologic disorders. She's board certified in both allergy/immunology and paediatrics. Her clinical interests include hereditary angioedema, urticaria, asthma, and atopic dermatitis.

Dr. Burnette has a special expertise in biologic utilisation for chronic moderate to severe disease in the allergy and immunology space.

A sought-after speaker and consultant, she has given numerous oral presentations and contributed to an array of advisory boards on these areas of interest in her community and throughout the country. Dr. Burnette has served as a primary author and co-author for several peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and oral abstracts, and also co-presented virtual CME podcasts/webinars and live national broadcasts during her career.

Dr. Jones received his medical degree from Penn State College of Medicine. He performed a residency in internal medicine at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, where he went on to complete a fellowship in allergy, asthma, and immunology. Dr. Jones is board certified in allergy and immunology.

In 2008, Dr. Jones founded Rocky Mountain Allergy, an internationally recognised treatment centre known for its innovative food allergy treatment program that offers oral immunotherapy. Since then, Dr. Jones has helped found several companies. He is co-founder and president of the nonprofit Food Allergy Support Team, co-founder of The Immunity Group Australia, and is co-founder and co-manager of Global Food Initiative. Dr. Jones is also the director of Allergy Microbiome Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing the science of integrated prevention and treatment of allergic disorders.

Dr. Jones has been principal investigator for several safety and efficacy trials on therapies for persistent asthma, primary immunodeficiency, and angioedema. He presents nationally and internationally on allergy and immunology topics and has authored articles in publications such as Journal of Food Allergy, World Allergy Organization Journal, and Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Dr. Jones is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He is a member of the AAAAI Food Allergy Adverse Reactions Committee and the Immunology Practice Management Committee. Dr. Jones has been recognised multiple times in Who’s Who Top Doctors Honors Edition. He won the APEX Award for Publication Excellence, 2023. He also won #1 Top Allergist in “Salt Lake City Weekly”, Best of Utah Body and Mind edition 2022. He has been voted as one of America’s Most Honored Doctors multiple times, Most Compassionate Doctor multiple times, and is an HAE Allies Award Winner along with Patient’s Choice Award.

Emily Carne has worked as the lead nurse in the service since 2001. Emily has a particular interest in and has published on different aspects of primary immunodeficiency, including quality of life, home therapy, and burden of treatment.

She has held positions in the committees of the BSI-CIAS, UKPIN, INGID, and BSACI; was chair of IANG; and sits on the Medical Advisory Panel for IDUK and IDPGW.

She was the first recipient of the INGID award for worldwide services to immunology in 2017, won the Royal College of Nursing Wales Clinical Nurse Specialist of the Year in 2016, and Cardiff and Vale Chairs award for clinical excellence in 2015. She was named the South Wales Echo Health Hero in May 2018, and her nursing team won a global patient safety day award in 2022 for work undertaken during the COVID pandemic.

Dr. Ricardo Dario Zwiener is a physician with over 20 years of experience in Internal Medicine and Clinical Allergology and Immunology. He received his training at Hospital Universitario Austral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he has been a key member of the Clinical Allergy and Immunology Department, significantly contributing to patient care and clinical education. Dr. Zwiener treats both adult and paediatric patients with a wide range of allergic diseases and immunologic disorders, with clinical expertise in hereditary angioedema, urticaria, drug allergy, asthma, and atopic dermatitis. He is also an International Fellow of the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology.

Dr. Zwiener is actively engaged in research, leading clinical studies on hereditary angioedema and severe asthma. His contributions have been recognised at national and international levels, including being awarded Best Oral Presentation in the angioedema session at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Congress in June 2023. With over 15 years of experience in diagnosing and treating hereditary angioedema (HAE), he has played a pivotal role in developing local guidelines to enhance the management of HAE patients.

Besides his clinical and research work, Dr. Zwiener is also committed to education and patient advocacy. He is the former Co-director of the Allergy and Immunology Specialist Career at AAAeIC (Asociación Argentina de Asma, Alergia e Inmunología Clinica) and has collaborated closely with AEH Argentina (Argentinian HAE patient Association) to raise awareness about the condition through advocacy campaigns.

He is a reviewer for prestigious journals such as JACI and the WAO Journal and holds leadership roles as the coordinator of AAAeIC’s HAE Committee and as a member of the Latin-American Society of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (SLaai).

Driven by a passion to improve the quality of life for HAE patients, Dr. Zwiener is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the disease burden and exploring innovative, patient-friendly therapies.

Dr. Stephen Betschel is a clinician-teacher and associate professor in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, and a staff clinical immunologist and allergist in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at St. Michael’s Hospital and Division of Respirology at University Health Network. Dr. Betschel also holds courtesy appointments at Michael Garron Hospital and St. Joseph’s Health Centre. He is the departmental division director of Clinical Immunology and Allergy in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Betschel earned a medical degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He completed the Master Teacher Program in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto. His extensive service to the medical community is demonstrated through various leadership positions locally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Betschel served for 14 years as the training program director in Clinical Immunology and Allergy at the University of Toronto, and he currently serves as the chair of the Canadian Hereditary Angioedema Network, and has been a member of the National Specialty Committee for over a decade.

Dr. Betschel’s focus is on rare diseases. He is the lead author on the Canadian and International Guidelines for Hereditary Angioedema and serves on the steering committee for the World Allergy Organization HAE guidelines. He is director of the Adult Primary Immunodeficiency Clinic at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Dr. Betschel has served as principal investigator for clinical studies in HAE as well as in other topics in allergy and immunology. He has authored or co-authored several book chapters and over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and publications.

Dr. Buttgereit is associate professor of dermatology and allergology at the Institute of Allergology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He studied human medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and performed his residency at Charité in the Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology.

Since the beginning of his training, Dr. Buttgereit has learned from Professor Marcus Maurer how to treat patients with various types of recurrent angioedema. Over time, he specialised more and more in the field of angioedema and served as an author and co-author for several peer-reviewed journal manuscripts about angioedema, including hereditary angioedema.

In recent years, Dr. Buttgereit has been a speaker on the topics of urticaria and hereditary angioedema at national and international conferences. More recently, he established the first global registry for all types of angioedema (CARE) in ACARE network. Furthermore, Dr. Buttgereit hosts the ACARE All Things Angioedema Podcast, where he regularly speaks with experts about various topics related to angioedema.

Dr. Buttgereit is head of the clinical trial division and angioedema program at the Institute of Allergology at Charité. He has been principal investigator for clinical trials on therapies for urticaria, angioedema, mastocytosis, and prurigo.