Gary S. Rachelefsky, MD, FAAAAI Lectureship: Investing Together in Our Future

Gary S. Rachelefsky, MD, FAAAAI is a graduate of Columbia College and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed a medical internship at Bellevue Hospital (NYU); a pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Harriet Lane); a 2-year epidemiology program at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta Georgia; and a fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at UCLA.

Dr. Rachelefsky went on to become the Director of the Executive Care Center for Asthma, Allergy and Respiratory Diseases, Professor of Allergy and Immunology, and Associate Director of the Allergy-Immunology Training Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He was president of the Respiratory and Allergic Disease Foundation and has been a principal investigator of multiple clinical trials. He is the author or co-author of more than 160 peer-reviewed publications dealing with allergy, respiratory disorders and immunology and has personally treated between 80,000 and 100,000 patients in his 40 years in medicine. He is the author of a book (published by McGraw Hill) for parents of children with asthma, “Free Your Child from Asthma: A Four-Week Plan to Eliminate Symptoms.” He was medical director of the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s asthma game for children (Quest for the Code) and is a member of their board of trustees.

Dr. Rachelefsky was president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) in 1997, is currently on the editorial board of The Annals of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, and has been on the editorial boards of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, Pediatrics, and Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. He was a member and past President of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, past chairperson of the allergy and immunology section of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and is the AAP representative to the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [NHLBI]).

Among his many professional honors, his most cherished include the National Asthma Award for Public Education/Service (NHLBI), the Lay Medical Education Award of the AAP, and twice being recognized for his teaching of house staff and medical students from the Department of Pediatrics, UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Rachelefsky is now retired, living in Los Angeles with his wife Gail and continues to mentor young medical students.

2020 marks the 3nd year of the Gary S. Rachelefsky, MD, FAAAAI Lectureship: Investing Together in Our Future.

Shantanu Agrawal, MD MPhil

President and CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF)

Shantanu Agrawal, MD MPhil is president and CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF). A board-certified emergency medicine physician who has worked in both academic and community settings, Dr. Agrawal is the former deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and director of one of its largest centers, the Center for Program Integrity (CPI).