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Dr. F. Runa Ali
BSc, MBBS, PhD, FRCP
Consultant in Allergy & Respiratory Medicine
GMC number: 3680722
Special interests:
Allergy medicine, Allergies, Allergic rhinitis, Allergen immunotherapy, Asthma, Biologic injections, Skin Prick Test, Food allergies, Drug Allergies, Urticaria (hives) and Angioedema (swellings) treatment, Anaphylaxis assessments, Bee and wasp venom allergy assessment, Molecular blood tests including ISAC
Treatments offered at King Edward VII’s Hospital include, but are not limited to:
- Skin Prick Testing
- Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT)
- Food And Drug Challenge Testing
- Biologics For Severe Asthma And Urticaria
Dr Ali is not only one of the few private allergists in the UK, but is also uniquely dual-specialised in both allergy and respiratory medicine, with a sub-specialist interest in severe asthma. Dr Ali leads the Allergy service at Barts Health, the UK’s largest NHS trust, and is also a senior consultant in its national severe asthma centre.
Dr Ali set up the allergy & asthma service at King Edward VII’s Hospital in 2009. She utilises skin prick tests, molecular immunology blood assays and lung function tests as part of her assessment. She prescribes immunotherapy tablets and biologic injections and works closely with specialist food allergy dietitians in-house. She conducts food and drug provocation challenge testing in an ICU setting with anaesthetic support.
Dr Ali is a highly experienced Allergy and Asthma specialist at King Edward VII’s Hospital. Dr Ali is also a Consultant in Allergy & Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Lead for Allergy at Barts Health – the largest NHS trust in the UK.
Dr Ali was also previously Clinical Lead for the Barts Severe Asthma service, a nationally recognised centre, in which she still works.
She uses her knowledge of advances through her specialist NHS services to translate over treatment and care to her private patients. Dr Ali provides in-house skin prick testing and immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis. She uses her knowledge of cutting edge technology to order molecular immunology blood tests and provide monoclonal antibody (biologic) treatment for urticaria and severe asthma. She runs regular drug and food allergy provocation challenge testing sessions on the day case unit (ICU). Dr Ali works closely with a specialist food allergy dietitian to ensure joined up care.
Training:
Dr Ali qualified in medicine from University College London and went on to specialist respiratory posts across London teaching hospitals. She trained in the Allergy clinic at the Royal Brompton Hospital, whilst undertaking her PhD in Allergic Asthma at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London.
Research & Education:
As well undertaking principal investigator roles in multi-centre research trials in both allergy and severe asthma, Dr Ali has continued to be an educator though working at the Barts (Queen Mary) medical school and as a postgraduate speaker at training events and specialist conferences, and to the public at the Allergy Show.
National Roles:
Dr Ali is a director and part of the senior leadership team of the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology, the professional body for UK allergists. She is also a member of the Allergy UK (national patient charity) advisory panel. She has been involved in working with the dept of health to improve allergy services and been a member of the Joint Committee for Allergy & Clinical Immunology at the Royal College of Physicians.
COVID-19 Specific Projects / Groups
Dr Ali was a Respiratory consultant lead on the Royal London Hospital COVID wards and a research sub-investigator in the RECOVERY study – the world’s largest trial of COVID-19 treatments. She recruited adults hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19. The trial was up and running within six weeks of funding and found one of the world’s first COVID-19 treatments, dexamethasone. This cheap, readily available steroid was shown to reduce deaths of hospitalised COVID-19 patients by one third.
RECOVERY Collaborative Group; Horby P, Lim WS, Emberson JR, Mafham M, Bell JL, Linsell L, Staplin N, Brightling C, Ustianowski A, Elmahi E, Prudon B, Green C, Felton T, Chadwick D, Rege K, Fegan C, Chappell LC, Faust SN, Jaki T, Jeffery K, Montgomery A, Rowan K, Juszczak E, Baillie JK, Haynes R, Landray MJ. Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021 Feb 25;384(8):693-704. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2021436. Epub 2020 Jul 17. PMID: 32678530; PMCID: PMC7383595.
Career Highlights
Dr Ali is a director, trustee and member of the senior leadership team of the professional body for Allergy specialists in the UK – the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology (BSACI). She was previously a member of the executive board of the BSACI and has represented UK allergists in workstreams involving the Dept of Health.
Dr Ali was also in the unique position of being the only physician in the country to simultaneously lead nationally commissioned and separate services in both Severe Asthma and in Allergy (Barts Health).
Awards
Clinical Excellence Awards
Memberships
Dr Ali sits on the Allergy UK Health Advisory Board and is Allergy Clinical Lead for the National Casemix Office (Department of Health) and a member of the NICE Evidence Resources Reference Panel. Dr Ali is a Director of the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology (BSACI; the professional body for doctors in those fields) and part of its senior leadership team. She is also a member of the Joint Committee for Immunology & Allergy at the Royal College of Physicians and a member of the British Thoracic Society.
Training Positions
As a consultant at Barts Medical School, Dr Ali continues to participate in cutting edge research in allergy and asthma, including trials of sublingual immunotherapy (desensitisation) for house-dust mite allergy, anti-histamine therapy, anti-IL5 treatment for recurrent nasal polyps and anti-IgE (omalizumab) injections for chronic urticaria. She is active in teaching and is co-author of the Respiratory chapter for the major clinical examination textbook “Hutchison’s Clinical Methods”. Dr Ali is a regular speaker, and has presented at the Allergy Show.
Cutting Edge Technologies
Dr Ali requests molecular blood tests – component specific IgE’s including the ISAC array, which check for sensitivity to 112 allergens.
She also uses monoclocnal antibodies (biologic injections) for urticaria or severe asthma and offers sublingual allergen immunotherapy for airborne allergies.
Publications
Madrigal-Burgaleta R, Vazquez-Revuelta P, Marti-Garrido J, Lleonart-Bellfill R, Ali FR, Alvarez-Cuesta E. Medical algorithm: Diagnosis and treatment of hypersensitivity reactions to cancer chemotherapy. Allergy. 2021 Aug;76(8):2636-2640. doi: 10.1111/all.14810. Epub 2021 May 20. PMID: 33683735.
Singer A, Ali FR, Quantrill S, North N, Stevens M, Lambourne J, Grigoriadou S, Pfeffer PE. Utility of immunology, microbiology, and helminth investigations in clinical assessment of severe asthma. J Asthma. 2022 Mar;59(3):541-551. doi: 10.1080/02770903.2020.1868496. Epub 2021 Jan 13. PMID: 33356678.
Madrigal-Burgaleta R, Fernandes B, Watson D, Shafi N, Ali FR. A Much-Anticipated Leap Forward in β-Lactam Drug Allergy: Phenotyping Reactions to Piperacillin/Tazobactam. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2020 Oct;8(9):3178-3179. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2020.05.013. PMID: 33039017.
Bahal S, Zinser E, Morrison C, Msonthi A, Pillai P, Ali FR. Identification of factors affecting the outcome of General Anaesthetic Allergy Testing. Clin Exp Allergy. 2020 Aug;50(8):977-980. doi: 10.1111/cea.13674. Epub 2020 Jun 18. PMID: 32484979.
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