APAAACI 2026 Symposium Speakers

Symposium Speakers

Adli Ali

Malaysia

Agnes Leung

Hong Kong

Amir Hamzah Abdul Lattif

Malaysia

An-Soo Jang

South Korea

Bee-Wah Lee

Singapore

Bernard Thong

Singapore

Carina Venter

United States

Cezmi Akdis

Switzerland

Chang-Keun Kim

South Korea

David Fleischer

United States

Dong Young Kim

South Korea

Duc Minh Do

Vietnam

Duy Le Pham

Vietnam

Elizabeth Tham

Singapore

Grace Chan

Singapore

Hae-Sim Park

South Korea

Hoang Thi Lam

Vietnam

I-Jen Wang

Taiwan

Intan Hakimah Ismail

Malaysia

Ioana Agache

Romania

Iris Rengganis

Indonesia

Jason Fok

Australia

Jiu Yao Wang

Taiwan

Kent Woo

Malaysia

Kim Tu Trinh Hoang

Vietnam

Kiran Godse

India

Kiwako Yamamoto

Japan

Kristin Jeong

Kyunguk Jeong

South Korea

Le Thi Tuyet Lan

Vietnam

Lydia Wong

Singapore

Marek Jutel

Poland

Marysia Recto

Philippines

Michaela Lucas

Australia

Michihiro Hide

Japan

Mimi Tang

Australia

Mongkhon Sompornrattanaphan

Mubeccel Akdis

Switzerland

Munkhbayarlakh Sonomjamts

Mongolia

Orapan Poachanukoon

Thailand

Philip Li

Hong Kong

Pongsakorn Tantilipikorn

Thailand

Punchama Pacharn

Thailand

Quan Vu Tran Thien

Vietnam

Rommel Lobo

Philippines

Ruby Pawankar

Japan

Salina Husain

Malaysia

Soo Jong Hong

South Korea

Stevent Sumantri

Indonesia

Su-Boon Yong

Taiwan

Takao Fujisawa

Japan

Tho Van Nguyen

Vietnam

Ting Fan Leung

Hong Kong

Valerie Verhasselt

Australia

Xin Rong

Singapore

Yoshitaka Okamoto

Japan

Cezmi Akdis

Director

Swiss Institute Of Allergy And Asthma Research

Switzerland

Prof. Cezmi Akdis is the director of the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) in Davos and Professor in Zurich University Medical Faculty. He has honorary professorships from Beijign Cantional University Tongren Hospital (China), Wuhan University (China), Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, China) Bursa Uludag University (Turkey), Peking University, China and Harvard University (USA). He is a Senate Member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences. Cezmi Akdis has published more than 800 peer-reviewed articles. His h-index is 173 (Scholar one) 138 (Web of Science). Cezmi Akdis acted as the President of the European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (20’000 members) between 2011-2013. He is a senate member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences. He was the editor of Global Atlases of Allergy, Asthma I-II, Chronic Rhinosinusitis and Allergic Rhinitis, Planetary Health, and Co-Editor of Pediatric Allergy. He was the founder and organizer of the World Immune Regulation Meetings, Davos I-XX. He was the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Allergy journal. Cezmi Akdis’s current research is the continuation of his epithelial barrier theory development of allergic and autoimmune diseases. He has recently identified 80 diseases linked to Epithelial Barrier Damage and Microbial Dysbiosis overall are responsible for more than 2 billion patients. Cezmi Akdis is currently focused on development of AI solutions to better understand the mechanisms of diseases linked to epithelial barrier defect caused by environmental changes. His major contributions include immune tolerance to allergens, understanding of Type 2 immunity, discovery or first time demonstration of many human immune system cells and cell subsets and many articles at the early stages of Covid including the first human to human infection paper. Website: www.epithelialbarriertheory.com en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cezmi_Akdis

Intan Hakimah Ismail

Deputy Dean (Academic) and Head of Clinical Immunology Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UPM; Consultant Paediatrician and Clinical Immunologist & Allergist, Hospital Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (HSAAS), UPM

Universiti Putra Malaysia (upm)

Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Intan Hakimah Ismail is a prominent figure in the field of Clinical Immunology and Allergy in Malaysia. She currently holds the position of Deputy Dean of Academic at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and serves as a Consultant Clinical Immunologist at Hospital Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, UPM. Prof. Intan has the distinction of being the first female Clinical Immunologist in Malaysia, reflecting her pioneering role in the field. Prof. Intan received her advanced training and PhD in Clinical Immunology from the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Her expertise and dedication led her to establish the Clinical Immunology and Allergy services at UPM in 2012, which has since become a vital referral centre for cases from across the country. In addition to her clinical and academic roles, Prof. Intan is actively involved in professional organizations and academic publishing. She is currently the President of the Malaysian Society of Allergy and Immunology (MSAI) and a Board Member of the Asia Pacific Society for Immunodeficiencies (APSID). She contributes to the scientific community as an Associate Editor of the Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences (MJMHS). Prof. Intan’s research interests are diverse and impactful, focusing on primary immunodeficiency diseases, food allergies, gut microbiota, and probiotics. Her work in Clinical Immunology and Allergy is dedicated to advancing both patient care and the scientific understanding of immunology and allergy disorders.

Jiu Yao Wang

Superintendent

China Medical University Children's Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

Taiwan

Prof. Jiu-Yao Wang is the Chair Professor and Superintendent of China Medical University Children’s Hospital, and Director of Allergy, Immunology, and the Microbiome (A.I.M.) Research Center, of China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. He has served as Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, and Director of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Research (ACIR) center at National Cheng Kung University Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan. He graduated from Department of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, in 1984, and obtained Doctor of Philosophy degree in the MRC Immunochemistry Unit, University of Oxford, United Kingdom in 1996. Prof.Wang’s lab has focused on the genetic, environmental, and immunological studies of innate immunity of allergic and asthmatic children in Taiwan for more than 40 years. These studies have produced more than 220 SCI papers and cited more than 9,500 times. Prof Wang has received several distinguished awards, such as Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Medical Research Award, Gold Medal of the K.T. Li Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, was awarded National Innovation Award three times, and Future Technology Award from the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan. He also severed as president of Taiwan Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology (TAAACI), and also of Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology (APAAACI).

Lydia Wong

Assistant Professor

National University Health Systems

Singapore

Dr Lydia Su Yin Wong is a Consultant in Paediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at the Khoo Teck Puat – National University Children's Medical Institute, National University Hospital (NUH), and an Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). She obtained her MBBS from NUS in 2008, completed her MRCPCH (UK) in 2012, and earned her Masters of Medicine (Paediatrics) in 2014. She was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, in 2018. Dr. Wong specializes in food allergy and food oral immunotherapy (OIT), with a strong research focus on advancing treatments for food allergies. She was the site principal investigator (Singapore) for an international randomised controlled trial of egg oral immunotherapy (Probiotic Egg Allergen Oral Immunotherapy (PEAT) study), and has led pilot work on development of prawn oral immunotherapy. Her work has been published in high-impact journals, and she has received accolades such as the KTP-NUCMI Junior Researcher with the Highest Grant Amount Award in 2019. Dr. Wong was awarded the Learning Development Award for further training as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at NYU Langone Health in 2024 where she trained with Professor Anna Nowak-Wegryzn on food allergy with a focus on multi-food oral immunotherapy, FPIES (food protein-induced enterocolitis) and OIT in preschoolers. She is actively involved in teaching in NUH and internationally as a committee member of the WAO World Allergy Training School (WATS) committee.

Mubeccel Akdis

Head Of Immune Regulation

SIAF

Switzerland

Dr Akdis is working in the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University Zurich since 1995 and received her PhD in Immunology. She worked as a postdoctoral scientist and became a group leader at SIAF, where she has established her own research group in 2003. Dr Akdis made her habilitation in Zurich University Medical Faculty on Experimental Immunology in 2005 and became a professor in 2016. She has published 389 peer-reviewed articles, sum of times cited: 33'143 and her h-index: 99 (135- Google Scholar). She has received honorary professorships from Beijign Cantional University Tongren Hospital (China), Wuhan University (China), Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, China), Bursa Uludag University (Turkey), and Harvard University (USA). She has received research grants and collaborative grants from the Swiss National Foundation, European Union (6 consortium grants) and Stanford University Sean Parker Seed Grant. She received numerous awards, including International Distinguished Fellow Award of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI. European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology EAACI, Paul Ehrlich Award for Experimental Research, Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) Datta Lecture and Medal, Kanton Graubünden Scientific Recognition Award, Sedat Simavi and Bulent Eczacibasi Medical Science Awards. She is currently scientific program co-chair of the EAACI. Her major contributions are on mechanisms of immune tolerance to allergens, viral infection responses of B cells, human B regulatory cells, mechanisms of allergen Immunotherapy and the role of antigen-specific B cells, immune tolerance to food antigens, regulation and subsets of IgG4 memory B cells.

Munkhbayarlakh Sonomjamts

President

Mongolian Society Of Allergology

Mongolia

Biosketch: Professor Munkhbayarlakh Sonomjamts is a distinguished physician and academic with over three decades of experience in medical education, research, and clinical practice, particularly in the field of allergology. He earned his MD in 1992, Master's degree in 1995, and PhD in 1999 from the National Medical University of Mongolia (NMUM). In 2012, he was conferred the title of Professor by the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (MNUMS). His specialization in allergology began in 1997 at NMUM, followed by advanced clinical fellowships in South Korea (Yonsei University, Seoul), Finland (Turku University), and the United States (NTHSC, Texas). Professor Munkhbayarlakh started his academic career in 1992 as a Lecturer in the Department of Pathophysiology. He went on to hold key leadership roles including: • Dean, School of Biomedicine (2003–2005) • Head, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology (2005–2013) • Dean, School of Medicine, MNUMS (2013–2019) • Director for Education, Science, and Strategy, First Central Hospital (2019–2020) Since 2020, he has been serving as a Professor in the Department of Pulmonology and Allergy. Professor Munkhbayarlakh is highly active in the international allergy community. He is: • President of the Mongolian Society of Allergology • Board Member of the Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (APAAACI) • Member of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) • Delegate in the House of Delegates of the World Allergy Organization (WAO) His research focuses on the etiology, mechanisms, and epidemiology of allergic diseases, contributing significantly to the advancement of allergy research in Mongolia and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

Philip Li

Clinical Associate Professor

The University Of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Professor Philip Li was the first locally trained Specialist in Immunology & Allergy in Hong Kong and currently serves as a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). He is also Division Chief of Rheumatology & Clinical Immunology at both HKU and HKU-Shenzhen Hospital. Additionally, he is the President of the Hong Kong Institute of Allergy and Board Director of the Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology (APAAACI). Prof Li has special interests in drug allergy, immunodeficiency and urticaria/angioedema. Notably, he established Hong Kong’s first specialist Immunology & Allergy training centre and leads the territory-wide Drug Allergy Delabelling Initiative (HK-DADI). As head of the Immunology & Allergy services of the Hong Kong West Cluster/HKU, he has steered the institution towards accreditation as both an Urticaria and Angioedema Centre of Reference & Excellence, as well as both a World Allergy Organization and APAAACI Centre of Excellence. He is also the Chairperson of the APAAACI Drug Allergy Committee. His research has earned notable recognition, including the distinguished Patrick Manson Gold Medal for the best MD thesis, and the Richard Yu Lectureship by the Hong Kong College of Physicians. In recognition of his advocacy work, Prof Li was honored with the Humanitarian Award by the Hong Kong Red Cross. His substantial clinical contributions have been acknowledged with the Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award, Chief Executive’s Commendation for Public Service and the HKUMed Clinical Service Excellence Award. Prof Li's influence is clearly demonstrated through his significant contributions to various local and international guidelines. These include guidelines on chronic urticaria, hereditary angioedema, and his role as the lead author of the clinical pathway for penicillin allergy testing in the Asia Pacific region. He has authored over 180 peer-reviewed articles in the disciplines of allergy, immunology, and autoimmunity. Additionally, he lends his expertise to Editorial Boards of several international journals including Vaccine, Frontiers in Immunology, Asian Pacific Journal of Allergy and Immunology and Asia Pacific Allergy.