Location: Cork, Ireland

COE since 2024

Website: www.ucc.ie/en/pcaci

Description: Cork University Hospital (CUH)/University College Cork (UCC). WAO Center of Excellence

Cork University Hospital is the largest university teaching hospital in Ireland. Its academic partner University College Cork is one of 6 medical schools in the Republic of Ireland.

The Paediatric Allergy service at CUH provides care and accepts referrals from 11 hospitals across the southern region. This has allowed us to become one of the leading allergy specialised centres in Ireland. Our service is conducted between purpose-built Paediatric outpatient clinics and a Paediatric day-ward both of which allow us access to all necessary allergy-specific investigations.

Clinical and academical field responsibilities includes:

Clinical service

• Paediatric allergy patients attending CUH avail of the highest level of care including access to specialised clinics and investigations including Pulmonary Function tests, allergy testing (skin, in-vitro), oral food/drug provocation challenges.
• Specialised therapeutics available include Inhalant, food, and venom immunotherapy, Immunomodulator therapy (e.g., anti-IgE, IVIG). We also provide care for patients with chronic/recurrent-like rhino-conjunctivitis, asthma, and skin conditions (urticaria, angioedema, eczema).
  

Research

• UCC partners/collaborators in our allergy research:
• Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research (INFANT).
• HRB Clinical research facility (CRF-UCC).
• APC Microbiome.

We have a strong transdisciplinary network creating knowledge and translating research to achieve sustainable and measurable clinical, practice, health and well-being outcomes for patients and their families. Collaborators in UCC include Medicine,

Applied Psychology, nutrition, nursing, and midwifery schools, allowing a broad spectrum of coverage with focus on the translational allergy field averaging more than 50 publication a in high impact factor journals. Our research in allergy includes Food immunotherapy, Longitudinal studies, Microbes influence on allergic sensitization within the gut, skin and lungs, Qualitative and quantitative examination of health-related quality of life (HRQL), diagnostic methods and Development and Validation of patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMS). These PROMs have contributed to the transformation across the allergy field -including in allergen immunotherapy-widening the parameters of benefits & harms of treatments and allowing for development and improvement in process and outcome quality indicators.

Education

We deliver education to undergraduate and postgraduate students across the globe. Programmes include an integrated, multi-systemic and transdisciplinary perspective. The delivery of this education explores different areas of involvement including:

• Paediatric allergy training in the Republic of Ireland through the Royal College of Physicians Ireland (RCPI)
  
• Training of combined research-clinical fellowship to obtain a proficiency level in paediatric allergy.
• Research fellows in allergy registered to obtain an MSc in research, medical doctor (MD) or PhD degree focus on allergy.
• Online postgraduate program in Allergy and Clinical Immunology tailored to provide post-graduate awards suitable for student requirements with a choice of 3 awards (PG certificate, PG diploma/ MSc in Allergy and Clinical Immunology) in a 3-year program. Approximately 40 students per year take part in different parts of the world.