Dr Tom Marrs

I am a paediatric allergist, treating children with complex allergies and leading service innovation to incorporate new evidence-based practice into allergy pathways. I have been working in the field for over 10 years from when I joined the Department of Paediatric Allergy at King's College London to help run a clinical research trial in the Prevention of Food Allergy.

I specialise in treating children with suspected allergic reactions to food, dust, pollen, pets and venom as well as the full range of allergic condition from eczema to chronic urticaria (persistent spontaneous nettle rash hives), and from persistent perennial house dust allergic rhinitis to seasonal hay fever and asthma. I offer specialist diagnosis from skin and blood component testing, remote allergen sensitisation testing for children over six years of age, asthma monitoring and spirometry.

Treatment advances now enable a wide range of immunotherapy treatments to be offered, including to pollens, house dust mite, pet danders and peanut oral immunotherapy is due to come to the market during mid-2021.

My PhD investigated why lifestyle changes increase the risk of our young children developing allergic disease, including eczema, food allergy and respiratory disease. I have been a Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at Evelina London, St Thomas' Hospital for five years, where I help run the largest Paediatric Allergy Centre in Europe. Currently, I lead the Infant Allergy Prevention service at Evelina London, St Thomas' Hospital, where I also run the Joint Allergy-Gastroenterology service. I am Director of the Allergy Academy post-graduate teaching institute at King's College London.

Since becoming a consultant at Evelina London, I have led the care of over 5,000 children with hundreds of these having interventional oral food challenges under my personal supervision. We receive highly specialist referrals at St Thomas, as a quaternary level department receiving parents referrals from other specialist allergy units relating to children with some of the most challenging allergic disorders. In our department, we routinely see over 18,000 children per year within the Paediatric Allergy Service at Evelina London, although current travel and distancing restrictions have led to a shortfall in capacity in the NHS sector currently restricting our current activity.

I led the Annual Conference for the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology for 3 years (2018 to 2020) as Scientific Programme Lead, completing my six year tenure on the committee and as Council Member.

In addition to my NHS Role, I am Director of the Allergy Academy, a Post-Graduate Teaching Institute I lead from within King's College London, within my role as Honorary Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Allergy.