Thomas Eiwegger

Thomas Eiwegger earned his doctoral degree at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, where he also completed his paediatric training. He did his post-doc in the Swiss Institute of Asthma and Allergy in the group of Cezmi Akdis from 2008 to 2010, and after returning to the Medical University of Vienna, he trained in paediatric allergy and respiratory medicine. Before moving to SickKids, Dr. Eiwegger was principal investigator and associate Professor at the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

He co-leads the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Program at SickKids, the largest in Canada, and oversees several clinical trials. His research focuses on mechanisms of IgE-mediated allergy. The Eiwegger Laboratory investigates mechanisms of tolerance development/abrogation of type 2 inflammation and novel treatments for food allergy.

Education and experience

• 1994–2002: MD, Medical University of Vienna
  Doctoral Thesis: “Influence of food derived substances on cord blood derived mononuclear cells”
• June 2012: Venia Legendi. Priv. Doc. Department of Paediatrics, Medical University of Vienna
• Sept 2013: Paediatrician (certified by the Austrian Medical Chamber)
• 2013–2015: Tenure Track position, Assistant Professor Paediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
• April 2015: Completion Tenure (fast track); Associate Professor Paediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
• June 2015: European Paediatric Allergist certified by the Education and Training Committee- Paediatric Allergy and the Section on Pediatrics of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
• Sept 2015: Clinician Scientist, Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy
  Scientist, Translational Medicine Program, SickKids Research Institute
• Sept 2015: Associate Professor of Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Ontario
• Feb 2016: Associate Professor of Immunology, Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Ontario
• July 2016: Subspecialty Paediatric Respiratory Medicine (certified by the Austrian Medical Chamber)

Achievements

• Associate Editor, Allergy, European Journal of Allergy and Immunology
• Review board member, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
• Chair, Working Group Biologicals, European Academy for Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)
• Board member, Section Immunology, European Academy for Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)
• Editorial board, International Archives of Allergy and Immunology 
• Advisory board, SickKids-UHN Flow and Mass Cytometry Core Facility 
• Co-Lead, Immunology working group CHILD study

Funding

• ALLLEVIATE Innovation Funds Denmark 2017-2021 (total budget 3.5 Mio Euro), Work package leader
• CIHR grant GRADE: GRAded challenge for Drug allergy Evaluation. Co-Applicant 2019-2023 ($336,600 CAD total funding) Site PI
• CIHR grant BOOM trial: 2019-2023 ($267,750 CAD total funding) Co-applicant
• CIHR CMI-2: Causational Roles of the Gut Microbiome in Childhood Asthma: Leveraging the CHILD Cohort Study ($2,000,000 CAD total funding) Co-applicant

1. Debiasi M*, Pichler H, Klinglmüller F, Boztug H, Schmidthaler K, Rech J, Scherer D, Lupinek C, Valenta R, Kacinska-Pfaller E, Geyeregger R, Fritsch G, Haas OA, Peters C, Lion T, Akdis M, Matthes S, Akdis, CA, Szépfalusi, Z, Eiwegger T. Allergy, in press. Transfer and loss of allergen-specific responses via stem cell transplantation: a prospective observational study. Allergy 2020 in press. *supervised PhD student 
2. Eiwegger T, Anagnostou K, Arasi S, Bégin P, Ben-Shoshan M, Beyer K, Blumchen K, Brough H, Caubet JC, Chan ES, Chen M, Chinthrajah S, Davis CM, Roches AD, Du Toit G, Elizur A, Galli SJ, Håland G, Hoffmann-Sommergruber K, Kim H, Leung DYM, Long A, Muraro A, Nurmatov UB, Pajno GB, Sampath V, Saxena J, Sindher S, Upton J, Worm M, Nadeau K. Conflicting Verdicts on peanut OIT from the ICER and FDA Advisory Committee. Where do we go from here? J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019 Oct 31. pii: S0091-6749(19)31414-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2019.10.021.  
3. Eiwegger T, Hung L*, San Diego KE, O'Mahony L, Upton J. Allergy. Recent Developments and highlights in food allergy 2019 Oct 8. doi: 10.1111/all.14082. *supervised Msc student 
4. Hoang JA*, Mashouri P, Dai R, Brydges M, Dubeau A, Lépine C, Yin X, Kowalik K, DeLorenzo S, Upton JEM, Moraes TJ, Amin R, Narang I, Boutis K, Schuh S, Maksym GN, Brudno M, Ramani A, Subbarao P, Eiwegger T. Extract and component-specific sensitization patterns in Canadian moderate to severe preschool asthmatics. Allergy. 2019 May 24. doi:10.1111/all.13927. SRI *supervised Msc student 
5. Bublin M, Kostadinova M, Radauer C, Varga EM, Hafner C, Schmidthaler K, Saidova A*, Maleki SJ,Szépfalusi Z, Eiwegger T#, Breiteneder H#. Engineering of structural variants of the major peanut allergens Ara h 2 and Ara h 6 for allergen-specific immunotherapy. JACI 2019 Mar; 143(3): 1226-1229.e10. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2018.10.039. 

*supervised PhD student; #contributed equally