Food allergen desensitization is an immunomodulatory treatment designed to gradually increase a patient’s tolerance to a food to which he or she is hypersensitive. The goal is to reduce the risk of experiencing allergic reactions from accidental ingestion, expand the diet, and improve quality of life by reducing restrictions and easing anxiety. The treatment involves daily dosing with the very food to which the patient is allergic, with doses that increase regularly. The risk of potentially experiencing an allergic reaction to the dose itself is real, and is mitigated by carefully following numerous safety rules and proactively modifying the dose if the patient exhibits signs of intolerance. This requires meticulous record-keeping and open communication on the part of both patient and allergist. However, if there are lapses in data collection or communication, dosing errors may result in reactions.

 

Intended target audience/user of your innovation

1. Patients who are pursuing food allergen desensitization therapy

2. Allergists supervising food allergen desensitization therapy

 

I learned to wireframe in Balsamiq to clearly map out user interfaces and workflows. I think this made the development process so much easier, because the team had a concrete representation of my vision for the application.

 

Mistakes/hurdles along the way

 

Typical day in your life

6:00am – wake up

6:30am – Drink tea and listen to the news on Alexa while preparing breakfast for the remote learners in the household

7:00am – Various meetings with development team and other contractors (Zoom, Amazon Chime, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral – you name it)

8:00am-11:30am, 1:00pm-5:00pm (M, T, Th, F) – Clinic at Kaneland Allergy and Asthma Center. Mix of telemedicine and in person appointments, plus direct supervision of immunotherapy, oral challenges and food desensitization. (Since the onset of the pandemic, I try to go home mid-day to either drop off or prepare lunch for my family.)

5:00pm-6:30pm – Conference calls for professional societies, catching up with kids and husband

6:30pm-7:30pm – Talk to friends while making dinner

7:30pm-8:00pm – dinner with family

8:00pm-8:30pm – watch tv with family

8:30pm-9:30pm – work out, shower

9:30pm-11:30pm – Catch up on emails, work on app and website – development, testing, marketing (often with a movie on in the background, usually something we’ve seen before – the familiarity of the dialogue is calming)

11:30pm – Sleep

On Wednesdays and weekends, I devote more time to the app, and less to the kitchen.

Someone who inspires you

I was inspired to create this application by the parents of my young patients, who work incredibly hard to stay organized when managing a complex immunomodulatory therapy. They keep notebooks, spreadsheets, and paper dose logs to keep track of everything this treatment entails. I wanted to create a solution to lift some of this burden, while simultaneously streamlining information-sharing with the medical team.

Parting words of wisdom

The best ideas are simple solutions to common problems. The concept doesn’t need to be earth-shattering, but it does need to make life better for others.