High-Level Federal Engagement Marks a New Era for Food Allergy Research
In a historic show of federal alignment, top leaders from the nation’s health agencies joined the Food Allergy Fund (FAF) for its Leadership Forum, underscoring an unprecedented national commitment to tackling the food allergy epidemic. The gathering united leaders from government, academia, philanthropy, and industry to address a condition affecting 1 in 13 children and 1 in 10 adults, yet long considered one of the nation’s most overlooked public-health challenges.
Representing a powerful coalition, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, and ARPA-H Director Dr. Alicia Jackson delivered keynote remarks reaffirming federal alignment around accelerating prevention, treatment, and cures.
Federal Leaders Call for Urgent Action
Opening the event, senior government officials stressed that food allergies demand the same urgency and coordinated national response as other chronic and life-threatening diseases. Secretary Kennedy emphasized that the issue reflects a deeper national health crisis that requires immediate attention.
Under my leadership, HHS is making it a top priority to uncover the root causes of food allergies,” Kennedy said. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and his Make America Healthy Again vision, we’re confronting the childhood chronic disease epidemic at its source — restoring the health of our children and the nation.”
Secretary Kennedy’s remarks highlighted a significant shift: food allergies are no longer being treated as a niche concern but as a major public-health priority affecting millions of families.
NIH Strengthens Its Commitment to Evidence-Based Nutrition and Immunology Research
NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya reinforced the federal government’s role in advancing rigorous, science-driven solutions to the food allergy crisis.
As a cornerstone of NIH’s mission, nutritional science research advances gold-standard, evidence-based discoveries that empower all Americans to live healthier lives and reduce the burden of chronic disease,” Bhattacharya said.
His comments emphasized that food allergies are deeply connected to broader questions about immune health, environmental exposures, and the microbiome—areas where NIH-funded research is rapidly expanding.
Food Allergy Fund Highlights Growing Federal Momentum
Ilana Golant, founder and CEO of the Food Allergy Fund, praised the event as a pivotal milestone for families affected by food allergies. As both a parent of a child with food allergies and someone who developed adult-onset allergies herself, she stressed the urgency of federal engagement.
Golant noted that 48% of food allergies begin in adulthood, challenging long-held assumptions that the condition primarily affects children.
Food allergies remain one of the most overlooked and underfunded public-health challenges,” she said. “They may also be the canary in the coal mine for a broader immune-health crisis. By breaking down silos and uniting science, policy, and innovation, we can unlock solutions that reach far beyond food allergies.”
ARPA-H Signals Major Investment in Food Allergy Innovation
A key moment of the forum was the address from Dr. Alicia Jackson, the new Director of ARPA-H, an agency created to pursue breakthrough biomedical innovations too risky for traditional government programs.
Dr. Jackson was clear that food allergies fall squarely within ARPA-H’s mission to solve large-scale, complex health challenges.
I came to lead ARPA-H to tackle and solve the major health challenges facing Americans today, like the food allergy crisis,” Jackson said. “ARPA-H exists for one purpose: to take on the challenges that are too big, too complex, and too high-risk for traditional funding or industry.”
She called on top researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to propose bold, high-impact ideas capable of creating a future where food allergy prevention and elimination are fully achievable.
Next-Generation Innovations Showcase a New Frontier in Patient Care
The Leadership Forum featured a panel of CEOs and health-technology leaders who presented cutting-edge solutions poised to transform food allergy management. These innovations included:
- AI-powered wearables capable of detecting early physiological signals of anaphylaxis
- A toothpaste-based immunotherapy that delivers allergen desensitization through a daily oral hygiene routine
- A new class of biologics designed to modulate immune response and reduce allergic reactivity
The presentations illustrated how patient-centered innovation is reshaping the future of food allergy care—moving beyond reactive treatments toward prevention and immune retraining.
FAF Launches the Microbiome Collective to Advance Breakthrough Research
One of the most significant announcements of the event was the launch of FAF’s Microbiome Collective, a multi-million-dollar collaborative network connecting top research institutions to investigate the microbiome’s role in food allergies and immune-related diseases.
The Collective aims to overcome long-standing challenges in microbiome research, such as:
- Small and inconsistent study samples
- Lack of standardized methodologies
- Isolated or incompatible datasets
The initiative seeks to generate large-scale, harmonized data capable of unlocking new scientific insights and accelerating the development of precision treatments.
Breakthrough Research Shows Promising Results
The Microbiome Collective builds upon groundbreaking studies already funded by FAF. Among them:
Boston Children’s Hospital Trial
A first-in-human clinical trial demonstrated that 40% of participants achieved up to a six-fold increase in peanut tolerance after a single microbiota transfer treatment — a significant step forward for microbiome-based therapies.
University of Chicago Studies
FAF also supported research exploring synbiotic and probiotic approaches to retrain the immune system toward healthy tolerance of allergenic foods.
Dr. Rima Rachid of Boston Children’s Hospital emphasized the importance of collaboration:
Previous microbiome studies have been limited by small sample sizes, different methodologies, and isolated datasets. FAF’s Collective model creates the scale and standardization needed to link specific microbiome mechanisms to disease, and, more importantly, to develop precision treatments.”
Food Allergies as Part of a Larger Immunological Picture
Dr. Susan Lynch of the University of California, San Francisco, underscored the broader potential impact of this work.
We believe food allergies are just the tip of the iceberg,” Lynch said. “How we understand and modulate the microbiome could transform how we prevent and treat a whole spectrum of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.”
Her remarks highlighted the far-reaching implications of food allergy research, positioning it as a gateway to understanding larger immune-health challenges.
FAF to Release New Funding Opportunities for Groundbreaking Research
In the coming weeks, FAF will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) inviting researchers to submit innovative projects focused on new diagnostics, treatments, and preventive strategies. Priority will be given to:
- Multi-site collaborative studies
- Research that can be rapidly translated into clinical care
- Projects capable of scaling to benefit broad patient populations
FAF’s goal is to catalyze research that will lead to breakthroughs quickly, efficiently, and with real-world impact.
About the Food Allergy Fund
The Food Allergy Fund (FAF) is the leading nonprofit dedicated to funding research to prevent, treat and cure food allergies a growing public health crisis affecting 10% of people in the United States and more than 350 million people worldwide. Through competitive grants and global convenings of scientists, policymakers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs, FAF accelerates breakthroughs. FAF’s mission is to create a future where no one suffers from food allergies
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