UC College of Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s named World Allergy Organization Center of Excellence
The University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have been chosen as a World Allergy Organization (WAO) Center of Excellence for the 2025-2029 term.
Jonathan Bernstein, MD. Photo/University of Cincinnati.
Jonathan Bernstein, MD, adjunct professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Internal Medicine will serve as the College of Medicine’s head of an 11-person leadership committee.
“Being designated as a WAO Center of Excellence is an endorsement of the Cincinnati Children's, University of Cincinnati and affiliate sites’ commitment to excellence in basic, translational and clinical research, patient care and education," said Bernstein. “We are greatly honored by this commendation to our center, as it is recognition of the high standards maintained by our faculty and staff in advancing medical care of our specialty to the communities we serve.”
Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD. Photo/Cincinnati Children's.
Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD, director of Cincinnati Children’s Division of Allergy and Immunology and the Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders, will lead the committee from the Children’s Hospital side.
“This is a great opportunity to expand on our already outstanding immunology community, especially in areas of training the next generation of leaders in the allergy/immunology field,” said Rothenberg.
The WAO Centers of Excellence designation exists to intensify and accelerate multidisciplinary scientific and clinical innovation, education and advocacy globally. Only 103 centers worldwide have earned this designation.
The center at the UC College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s will consist of 32 faculty representing a wide range of clinical and research specialties, including these five subspecialties:
Allergy and Immunology led by Bernstein and Rothenberg. This area includes the clinical specialties of Drug Allergy, Eosinophilic Disease and Food Allergy.
Asthma led by Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD.
Autoimmune Genomics and Etiology led by Leah Kottyan, PhD.
Immunobiology led by Ian P. Lewkowich, PhD.
Primary Immune Deficiency led by Michael B. Jordan, MD. This area also includes clinical specialties in Bone Marrow Transplantation and Immune Deficiency and Histiocytosis.
In addition, there are three training programs as part of the Center of Excellence — the Allergy and Immunology Clinical Fellowships, Allergy and Immunology Advanced Research Training Fellowship and the Immunology Graduate Program:
The pediatric and internal medicine Allergy and Immunology Clinical Fellowships are led by Stephanie L. Ward, MD and Kristin Schmidlin, MD, respectively, and are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
The Allergy and Immunology Advanced Research Training Fellowship is collaboratively led by Ward and Rothenberg.
The Immunology Graduate Program is led by Lewkowich.
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