Stephen Durham

Stephen R Durham is Head of Section for Allergy and Clinical Immunology at NHLI, Imperial College and Professor of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital London.

Professor Durham qualified from Downing College Cambridge and Guy's Hospital London in 1976. He trained in general and respiratory medicine at Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge, Royal Brompton Hospital and John Radcliffe/Churchill Hospitals in Oxford, returning to NHLI as Senior lecturer in 1988. Before taking up his present position in 2004, he was Reader in Upper Respiratory Medicine.

He has studied basic mechanisms of allergic rhinitis and asthma and the influence of treatment. This has involved the development of pharmacodynamic models of allergen challenge in the skin, nose and lung and studies of seasonal hayfever. A particular focus has been translational studies of allergen immunotherapy that have elucidated mechanisms of human antigen-specific tolerance and informed novel treatment approaches. He is principle investigator for a number of international trials that have resulted in Europe-wide registration of an Alum-based grass pollen vaccine for injection and a sublingual grass allergen tablet, the first allergy vaccine to be registered in UK for 35 years.

Professor Durham is current President of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology and a member of the Immune Tolerance Network Steering Committee of the National Institutes of health. He is former Chair of the Research Committee of the World Allergy Organisation and council member of Collegium Internationale Allergologicum. He has given prestigious lectures including the Dr John Salvaggio and Dr Harold Nelson Lectureships at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the John P McGovern Medal from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. From the BSACI has been awarded the Jack Pepys Lectureship and William Frankland Medal for outstanding services to clinical allergy. He has written over 350 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and edited 3 books, including the popular BMJ ABC of Allergies.