By SIERRA DAVIS | Pali Life Editor
Fifty specially invited guests, largely from Pacific Palisades, gathered to show their support for a new, groundbreaking allergy clinic set to break ground in Southern California this year at the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica on the evening of May 13.
The benefit, hosted by Palisadians Neil and Subha Chudgar along with Palisadians Catherine and Andrew Huang, featured Dr. Inderpal Randhawa of Miller Children’s hospital in Long Beach. Dr. Randhawa, a leading allergist for treatment of food allergies, treats the children of both families.
“The event was fantastic – very informative for a lot of parents looking to get their kids treated for food allergies with Dr. Randhawa. Since the event, many parents have made appointments to see him,” said Subha Chudgar, whose 4-year-old daughter Laila suffers from life-threatening food allergies.
For the past eight months, Laila has been receiving treatment for her dairy and nut allergies from Dr. Randhawa through desensitization techniques where patients are given small doses of the food they are allergic to. The doctor gradually increases the doses until his patients can tolerate the food.
“It’s amazing. Laila can now drink milk and eats hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios on a daily basis,” her mother said. “In about a year or so she will be able to eat all nuts. This has been such a life-changing treatment for us.”
Because Dr. Randhawa has a growing waiting list for new patients, plans are in place to open up a new allergy clinic, Translational Pulmonary and Immunology Research Center. TPIRC will offer a comprehensive approach to rare disease innovation and care by combining philanthropy and fundraising with research and clinical accountability. This model will allow the advocacy and clinical components to drive research productivity with accountability toward meaningful results, according to their website.
Visit www.tpirc.org.
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