Challenging Cases in Chronic Urticaria

Michael E. Manning, MD, FAAAAI, FACAAI, is president of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Associates, Ltd., and medical director of the clinical research division, Medical Research of Arizona.
 
Dr. Manning is a graduate of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and he received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed an internship and subsequent residency in internal medicine at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and an allergy and immunology fellowship at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California.
 
Dr. Manning has served as president of the Greater Phoenix Allergy Society, the Arizona State Allergy and Asthma Society, and the Western Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and a member of the American Thoracic Society and the American College of Physicians.  Dr. Manning is currently on the Board of Regents of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. 

Dr. Luz Fonacier, MD, FAAAAI, FACAAI, is the Head of Allergy in Winthrop University Hospital, a clinical campus of Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and serves as the Program Director for the Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program. Dr. Fonacier is also a professor of medicine in SUNY at Stony Brook. She completed residencies in Dermatology and Internal Medicine, a fellowship in Allergy and Immunology in New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, and a fellowship in Dermal Immunology at New York University Medical Center. 
 
Dr. Fonacier serves as the Treasurer of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). She chaired the Committee on Dermatologic Allergy of the ACAAI and the Food Allergy, Dermatologic, Drug and Anaphylaxis Interest Section of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI). She is the recipient of the 2014 ARTrust™ and Anjuli Seth Nayak AAAAI Lectureship, the 2012 ACAAI John P. McGovern Lectureship, the 2010 ACAAI Jean A. Chapman Memorial Lectureship, the 2009 ACAAI "Women in Allergy Award," and the 1998 Presidential Award of the Asian Pacific Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Dr. Fonacier also served as president of the Long
Island Allergy Society.

Dr. Fonacier has numerous publications in textbooks and journals and continues to be a speaker and faculty in the annual national conventions of the ACAAI, AAAAI, and other national and international societies. Because of her training in dermatology, allergy, and immunology, Dr. Fonacier's special interest is the dermatologic manifestations of allergic diseases.

Richard G. Gower, MD, FACAAI, FAAAAI, FACP, is a Past Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and on the staff of Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. He is past president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), and a fellow of the ACAAI, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and the American College of Physicians.
 
After receiving his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, Dr. Gower completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Miami Affiliated Hospitals in Miami, Florida. He then completed a fellowship in allergy/clinical immunology and vasculitis at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver.
 
Dr. Gower has been primary investigator in more than 150 clinical studies on the treatment of asthma, allergic rhinitis/conjunctivitis, sinusitis, atopic dermatitis, chronic urticaria, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hereditary angioedema (HAE). Dr. Gower has presented papers at national and international meetings concerning diseases of the respiratory tract, as well as urticaria and angioedema.
 
Dr. Gower is past president of the Intermountain West Allergy Association; Western Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; and Washington State Society of Internal Medicine, and he is a member of numerous professional societies. In 2013, Dr. Gower was awarded the ACAAI Distinguished Fellow Award. He is a past chair of the ACAAI Public Awareness and Education Campaign. A major goal of this national campaign is to educate the public about allergies and asthma. Dr. Gower addressed these important issues on Capitol Hill at a national level for years.
 
In recent years, Dr. Gower has been an author of several publications regarding hereditary angioedema and urticaria—including two international consensus guideline papers—and has participated in many urticaria and angioedema education sessions.