Thomas PLATTS-MILLS, M.D., PhD

Platts-MillsDirector of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: University of Virginia School of Medicine, USA
Fellow of the Royal Society

Education:
B.A. Degree: Balliol College, Oxford
B.M Degree: St. Thomas’ Hospital, London
PhD: University of London
Postdoctoral Training: John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, USA

Research Interests:

  • understanding the ways in which indoor exposure of a patient with immediate hypersensitivity could contribute to inflammation of the lungs or the skin
  • quantitation of the relationship between exposure to house dust mite and the onset of asthma
  • demonstration that a fungal allergen on the feet can also cause asthma
  • IgE antibodies to the oligosaccharide GAG can form the basis for two different forms of anaphylaxis

Bio:
Professor Platts-Mills is a British allergy researcher and director of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Platts-Mills received his training at University College School, London. He then went to Balliot College, Oxford and St. Thomas’ Hospital Medical, obtained his PhD from London University, and completed a fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in the laboratory of Kimishige Ishizaka. He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1971. From 1975 to 1982 he did resarch in Britain for the Medical Research Council. Since 1982 he has worked at the University of Virginia where he has been Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and, from 1993, head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He served as President of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) from March 2006 to March 2007. Since 1974, Platts-Mills has been active in research on various aspects of allergic diseases and has published more than 300 papers. His research includes the first purification and publication of a dust mite allergen, the development of immunoassays for dust mite allergens, and the establishment that it is mite fecal particles, which are inhaled. Platts-Mills has performed in depth research on the immune response to a range of allergens including those from pollens, dust mites, the fungus Trichophyton, and domestic cats. In 2010, his research was awarded by the election as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the first allergist to be named to this highly prestigious group of individuals.

Publications extlink