Rate My Professor Alexandra Santos

Professor Alexandra Santos MD MSc MRCPCH FHEA PhD serves as Clinical Professor of Paediatric Food Allergy at King's College London and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, part of Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and completed her PhD in Allergy and Immunology at King’s College London under the supervision of Professor Gideon Lack, focusing on diagnostic markers such as the basophil activation test, IgE, and IgG4 for distinguishing clinical peanut allergy from sensitization. Her academic career encompasses clinical practice in paediatric allergy alongside translational research aimed at improving the precision and safety of food allergy diagnosis, delineating immune mechanisms underlying food allergy and oral tolerance in IgE-sensitized children to pinpoint novel therapeutic targets, and exploring the biological foundations of anxiety associated with food allergy.

In leadership capacities, Professor Santos holds the position of School Academic Lead for Research and Impact at King’s College London. She chairs the Board of the Food Allergy Interest Group within the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and is spearheading the forthcoming EAACI Food Allergy Guidelines. Her scholarly achievements have earned her multiple accolades from the Medical Research Council, including the Clinical Research Training Fellowship, Centenary Early Career Award, Clinician Scientist Fellowship, and Transition Fellowship. As principal investigator, she has obtained grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases via the Immune Tolerance Network for the LEAP study on peanut allergy prevention, Food Allergy Research and Education, the Wellcome Trust, the European Commission, and Asthma UK for the Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma. She belongs to the inaugural cohort of the Academy of Medical Sciences Sustain Programme. Key publications include co-authorship on the landmark 'Randomized trial of peanut consumption in infants at risk for peanut allergy' (New England Journal of Medicine, 2015), EAACI Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Guidelines (2014), Anaphylaxis Guidelines (2014), and International Consensus on Allergy Immunotherapy (2015), amassing over 14,000 citations and profoundly shaping paediatric allergy research and clinical guidelines worldwide.