Sixteen years ago, the International FPIES Association (IFPIES) began with a simple and urgent mission: to ensure that no patient or family living with FPIES is left without answers, support, education, advocacy, or hope.
Today, we celebrate 16 years of changing the FPIES landscape—from helping establish the first international consensus guidelines and securing an ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for FPIES to supporting research, building global medical partnerships, educating clinicians, and creating programs that directly serve patients and families.
Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
And we are just getting started.
A Special Honor: Dr. Allan Stillerman
Honoring a Champion of IFPIES
Some people support a mission.
Some people believe in a mission.
And then there are those who become part of the mission itself.
For 16 years, Dr. Allan Stillerman has been an extraordinary champion of the International FPIES Association and the patients and families we serve.
His contributions to IFPIES have been tireless, generous, and seemingly endless. He has given his time, expertise, advocacy, financial support, encouragement, and unwavering belief in the importance of our work. His commitment has extended far beyond a single program or initiative, he has consistently stood beside IFPIES and helped us continue moving forward when resources were limited and the needs of the FPIES community were immense.
Dr. Stillerman has demonstrated what it truly means to invest in a mission.
His generosity has helped make Loni’s Lounge possible, creating a free, global resource that has already touched the lives of hundreds of patients and caregivers. His continued financial commitment and matching support are helping us build toward our goal of reaching 1,000 patients and caregivers in 2027.
But his impact cannot be measured only in dollars.
It is measured in the families who found support when they felt alone.
In the patients who gained access to resources they could not otherwise afford.
And in the future of FPIES advocacy that is stronger because Dr. Stillerman chose to stand with us.
With profound gratitude, IFPIES is honored to name Dr. Allan Stillerman our 2026 Honorary Board Director.
This honor recognizes not only his extraordinary generosity, but his enduring partnership, leadership, compassion, and belief in the FPIES community.
Dr. Stillerman, we thank you for standing with IFPIES for so many years. Thank you for believing in our patients. Thank you for believing in our mission. Thank you for giving when there was a need, and for continuing to ask, “What more can we do?”
The FPIES Movement
Loni’s Lounge: 500+ Families. One Global Community.
We are proud to have launched Loni’s Lounge, the first-ever completely free virtual FPIES coaching and tele-support platform, created to bring meaningful, individualized support directly into the homes of patients and families.
To date, more than 500 patients and caregivers across the globe have been served, including families in Israel, the Falkland Islands, Chile, Australia, and beyond.
- One-on-one individualized support and a bridge of care with FPIES experts worldwide
- Access to current research studies and medical advocacy
- Practical FPIES management skills and caregiver support
- Live cooking demonstrations, FPIES-friendly recipes, and culinary ideas
- Virtual food shopping and creative meal-preparation strategies
- Support designed to help families make food fun again
Thank you to Genentech, Dr. Allan Stillerman, and his late wife, Loni, for making this groundbreaking program possible.
Our 2027 Goal: Reach 1,000 Patients
We are launching a new fundraising campaign to expand Loni’s Lounge and serve 1,000 patients and caregivers in 2027.
A Generous Matching Challenge
Dr. Allan Stillerman has pledged a matching gift of $0.67 for every $1 raised, up to $50,000, for eligible new funding raised during the 2026–2027 grant period.
IFPIES must first raise $75,000. Qualified funders include corporate contributions, grants from foundations and professional organizations, and gifts from individuals. New grants must be paid in full during the defined 2026–2027 grant period.
Your eligible donation can increase the total raised by 67% through this matching challenge, providing meaningful one-on-one support to a pediatric or adult patient and caregiver in need, helping expand access, eliminate barriers, and address the unmet needs documented throughout FPIES scholarly literature and patient communities.
reALLERGIES Has Gone Global!
Our successful reALLERGIES Podcast continues to bring the real-world experience of FPIES to a growing global audience. With the generous support of Genentech, our monthly series brings together the perspectives of patients, parents, and clinicians—getting real about what it is like to live with FPIES in real-world and clinical settings.
Our latest episode explores FPIES Oral Food Challenges: what families should know, what clinicians consider, and what the experience is really like.
Listen and explore the podcast library: https://fpies.org/podcast/
What Should We Talk About Next?
Submit topic requests for future episodes and tell us what you want to see, hear, and learn about in 2027.
A New Home. A New Look. A Bolder Future. Coming Very Soon.
IFPIES has established a new headquarters in South Florida, marking an exciting new chapter for the organization. With this move comes a new IFPIES brand and an upcoming new website designed around the needs of patients, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers.
- Searchable FPIES provider directory
- Dedicated Patient and Clinician sections
- Global access to free IFPIES programs
- Launch of the IFPIES Global Clinical Consortium
- CME, CEU, webinars, protocols, guidelines, discussion boards, and professional listservs
- A central hub to unite medical providers and streamline access to FPIES clinical education
The Global Clinical Consortium will be co-chaired by Dr. Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn and Fallon Schultz, MSW, LCSW, CAM, Founder & CEO of IFPIES, with Dr. Mary Grace Baker serving as Clinical Director.
Welcome to Our Expanded Medical Advisory Board
We are proud to welcome:
- Dr. Marta Vasquez-Ortiz – United Kingdom
- Dr. César Alberto Galván Calle – Lima, Peru
- Dr. Ana Paula Moschione Castro – São Paulo, Brazil
- Emile Baker, MSW, LICSW – United States
- Lisa Rosenberg, MSW, LCSW – United States
Learn more: National Medical Board | International Medical Board
Clinical Advancement & Research
The International Consensus Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of FPIES are undergoing full revision. A DELPHI consensus process has begun to guide the next generation of recommendations.
We recognize how significantly the clinical landscape has evolved. The revision process will address the low-, moderate-, and high-risk food chart; the impact of early food introduction; the rise of peanut and egg FPIES; phenotype criteria including acute, chronic, and atypical FPIES; phenotype overlap and conversion; and other non-IgE-mediated conditions.
NIH-Funded INFINITY Study
The NIH-funded INFINITY study is well underway and continues to actively accept participants.
New Research Looking Into Peanut FPIES
We are honored to have been selected by the National Peanut Board as a grant recipient to explore oral immunotherapy (OIT) in peanut FPIES. Periodic updates will be shared through our newsletter – stay tuned.
Meet the Researcher — 2027
In 2027, we will expand our Meet the Researcher series, inviting patients and caregivers to connect directly with worldwide FPIES researchers, engage with investigators, and learn about active FPIES studies.
- Dr. Jesse Ekin – Australia: adult FPIES following stem cell transplantation
- Dr. Marta Vasquez-Ortiz – United Kingdom: the BIO-FPIES project and study
FPIES Journal Club
Our quarterly FPIES Journal Club, chaired and led by Dr. Sara Anvari, will continue in 2027. Thank you to Nutricia for generously supporting this program in 2026.
Coming in 2027: FPIES Patient Education
A Visual Storytelling Platform
We are excited to announce plans to launch our Visual Storytelling Patient Education Program, coming in 2027, bringing the FPIES journey to life through powerful, accessible patient-centered disease state education. Interested sponsors, please email fallon@fpies.org for information.
FPIES University…Now on VuMedi
Thank you to VuMedi for partnering with IFPIES and hosting our professional education channel. The VuMedi channel replaces our previous FPIES University platform and provides streamlined access to clinicians for FPIES educational resources. Our channel currently serves and reaches:
- Family & Internal Medicine: 169.7K
- Pediatrics: 24.4K
- Allergy: 2.8K
- Gastro & Hepatology: 14.8K
Visit the IFPIES VuMedi Channel
A Special Anniversary Dedication
To the People Who Have Carried the Mission Forward
As we celebrate 16 years of the International FPIES Association, we pause to recognize the extraordinary individuals who have made this journey possible.
To our Medical Advisory Board and Board of Directors: Thank you.
Thank you for your tireless advocacy, unwavering support, expertise, leadership, and commitment to the FPIES community.
For 16 years, our Medical Advisory Board members have generously contributed their time, knowledge, clinical expertise, research insight, and professional credibility, often pro bono and without compensation, because they believe deeply in the mission of IFPIES and in the patients and families we serve.
Our Board of Directors has stood alongside this mission with the same determination, providing leadership, advocacy, personal financial contributions, and countless hours of service to help sustain and grow IFPIES.
Together, you have helped build an organization that continues to advocate when others do not, educate when information is scarce, support families when they feel alone, and advance research and clinical care when the need is greatest.
You have believed in FPIES when it was overlooked. You have invested in IFPIES when resources were scarce. You have continued to show up when the path forward was difficult.
This anniversary belongs to you as much as it belongs to the organization.
Your dedication has helped create 16 years of impact and the foundation for the next 16.
Thank you for believing. Thank you for giving. Thank you for advocating. Thank you for standing with our patients and families.
We could not have reached 16 years without you. And together, we will continue building a future where no patient or family living with FPIES is left behind.
16 Years Down. The Future Is Just Beginning.
For 16 years, IFPIES has worked to change what it means to live with FPIES. We have advocated. We have educated. We have supported. We have advanced research. We have built bridges between patients, clinicians, and researchers. And we have continued to innovate when resources were limited because the needs of the FPIES community could not wait.
Now, we are asking our community to help us build the next 16 years.
Help us reach 1,000 patients through Loni’s Lounge. Help us expand FPIES research. Help us educate more clinicians. Help us connect patients with researchers. Help us ensure that FPIES has a voice in the future of food allergy.
Your Support Makes the Next Chapter Possible.
And with Dr. Allan Stillerman’s matching pledge of $0.67 for every $1 raised, your eligible donation can increase the total raised by 67%.
Thank you for 16 incredible years and for believing in what comes next.
The International FPIES Association (IFPIES)
Advocacy • Education • Support • Research
Because no patient or family living with FPIES should ever be left behind.