What does the future of food allergy care look like when we move beyond simply avoiding allergens?

In Episode 64 of the Immunity Group Podcast, Dr Nina Markovic-Khaze speaks with Dr Lianne Soller, Allergy Research Manager in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the University of British Columbia and a leading researcher in food allergy treatment at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada.

Dr Soller has spent almost two decades working in allergy research and now leads research examining oral immunotherapy (OIT), sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), real-world food allergy treatment and the psychosocial impact of living with food allergy.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Nina and Lianne discuss:

• What OIT can realistically achieve, and the important difference between desensitisation, remission and “cure”
• Why Canada increasingly favours earlier intervention rather than waiting for children to outgrow food allergies
• Why access to OIT remains unequal, even in countries where treatment is becoming more established
• The practical barriers facing allergists, including time, staffing, funding and healthcare infrastructure
• How telemedicine, home-based protocols and greater GP involvement could expand access to treatment
• Food allergy anxiety and why psychological wellbeing needs to become part of routine allergy care
• The development of the IMPACT tool, designed to measure food-allergy-related anxiety and coping in parents
• Skin prick testing, specific IgE, component testing, basophil activation testing and the ongoing role of oral food challenges
• Emerging research into the gut microbiome, infancy and oral immunotherapy, including the team’s DINOSAUR study
• Why international collaboration will be essential if food allergy treatment is to become more accessible worldwide.

Dr Soller is also co-founder and Board Chair of the Canadian Food Allergy Immunotherapy (FAIT) Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation working to increase access to food allergy treatment across Canada.

At the heart of this episode is a bigger question: can food allergy care evolve from a model centred predominantly on avoidance and emergency preparedness towards one that also offers treatment, psychological support and greater freedom for families?

An important conversation about science, access, anxiety and what meaningful progress in food allergy care could look like.