Meet the Board: Allison C. Ramsey, MD
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Allison C. Ramsey, MD, has a busy schedule. In addition to being an allergist and clinical immunologist for Rochester Regional Health, she is a clinical assistant professor at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Plus, she is the former chair of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Adverse Reactions to Drugs, Biologicals and Latex Committee, an editorial board member of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, as well as a member of the Healio Allergy/Asthma Peer Perspective Board.
It is a good thing, then, that she enjoys her work.
“I love this field and love taking care of patients and advancing the field through research,” she told Healio.
We spoke with Ramsey to find out why she entered allergy/immunology, her most and least favorite aspects of practicing, and her take on the biggest recent and upcoming innovations in treatment.
Healio: How did you come to pursue allergy/immunology as your specialty?
Ramsey: I trained in internal medicine, as I loved the thinking that goes into diagnosing and treating internal medicine patients. I was ultimately drawn to allergy/immunology because of the impact that its physicians can have on patient quality of life, whether it’s improving someone’s allergy to their pet, their asthma or removing a drug allergy label. Even though I trained in internal medicine, allergy/immunology specialists are trained to see both adults and children, so I love that I can see a 6-month-old baby and then a 90-year-old woman in the same hour.
Healio: Do you have a particular area of allergy/immunology that you enjoy the most?
Ramsey: I am most drawn to drug allergy. I enjoy expanding therapeutic options for patients to optimize their treatments from other acute or chronic diseases. I also enjoy research in this area and thinking about how we can improve drug allergy evaluation approaches. In addition to drug allergy, I love making patients with severe asthma better through the repertoire of great medications we currently have for them.
Healio: What challenges do you face regularly in practice that keep you up at night?
Ramsey: Allergy/immunology can be a routine practice, but really difficult cases periodically come up. It’s those more difficult cases that can dominate my thoughts. On a more global level, inequality in care access and quality is a huge issue.
Healio: What do you like to do outside of clinical practice?
Ramsey: I am married with three children and a dog. I enjoy yoga, running, working out and walking/training my dog. We have a lot of baseball in our household, so I am often on the sideline of a Little League field. I also love a good night together with friends.
Healio: What would you say has been the most exciting development in allergy and asthma treatment over the last decade?
Ramsey: As a drug allergy specialist, I’m excited about the attention penicillin allergy and delabeling of penicillin allergy are getting. I think that our field’s expansion of biologic medications has been game changing for asthma, nasal polyps and atopic dermatitis.
Healio: What advances are you most looking forward to over the next 10 years?
Ramsey: I’m looking forward to more medications, biologics and otherwise, that better target disease states in specific patients. This has been termed precision medicine.
For more information:
Allison C. Ramsey, MD, can be reached at allison.ramsey@rochesterregional.org.