News archive 2008

Professor Tak Lee honoured

11 Mar 2008, PR 47/08

Professor Tak Lee, Head of the Division of Asthma, Allergy and Lung Biology at King’s, has been awarded the prestigious William Frankland Award for distinguished services to clinical allergy.



The British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) has now given Professor Lee both the Jack Pepys’ award for scientific achievement, and this award for clinical service.

Professor Lee commented on his award: ‘I feel very honoured to receive this award from the British Society and feel that this really is an award won by the whole department at King’s who have worked so hard to make the clinical allergy service, academic division and MRC Centre such a success in the last few years’.

The Award

The William Frankland award was established by the BSACI in 1999 to honour the work of Dr William Frankland. Dr Frankland worked at St Mary’s Paddington alongside Alexander Fleming (the scientist who discovered Penicillin) and was Director of the Allergy Clinic at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, which is now named the Frankland clinic.  Dr Frankland has the distinction of being the first person in the UK to demonstrate the benefits of grass pollen immunotherapy in a double blind placebo controlled study and is considered by many colleagues as the “grandfather” of clinical allergy in the UK. He was President of both the BSACI and European Society of Allergology and also a founding member of Asthma UK.  When he retired from St Mary’s he came to Guy’s as an honorary consultant and helped Professor Maurice Lessof to establish the Allergy clinic. 

The William Frankland award is given annually and will be formally presented to Professor Lee in the society’s annual meeting in the summer. Nominations are made by society members and the overall decision is made by the Council.

Professor Tak Lee was awarded the Asthma UK Chair of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine in 1988 and became the Director of the MRC and Asthma UK Centre in the Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma in 2005. As Head of the Division of Asthma, Allergy and Lung Biology, (which has members from both the School of Medicine and the School of Biomedical & Health Sciences) Professor Lee teaches medical students, postgraduates and supervises PhD students in addition to overseeing an internationally competitive research programme.

His research focuses on causes, mechanisms and treatment of asthma and allergy.   He is Asthma UK’s clinical Professor and a Vice-President of the Charity and an honorary consultant physician and allergist to the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. He has been responsible over a number of years, with colleagues, for developing the NHS Clinical Allergy service in the Trust. The service is now the largest one in the country, providing care for both children and adults.

Professor Lee was Chairman of the Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists Joint Committee for Immunology and Allergy; and past President of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He is now a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was also granted a fellowship to King’s in 2007.

Stephen Durham, President of the BSACI commented: ‘The William Frankland Award recognises Professor Tak Lee’s marvellous achievements as clinician and scientist and his enormous contribution to the specialty over many years, which has been of great benefit to sufferers of allergic diseases’.



Notes to editors

The British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology
The BSACI forms a collection of special interest groups including paediatrics, ENT, dermatology and gastroenterology with a remit to promote understanding of the contribution of Allergy to diseases within these disciplines and thus improve management of such diseases.
 
The organisation holds regional meetings across the UK for primary and secondary care professionals to raise awareness in Allergy and initiate education focused on the community practice of this speciality. A Standards of Care Committee has been set up to provide guidelines in each area of clinical Allergy, thus far those on urticaria, rhinitis and rhinosinusitis have been produced and are available to members on the BSACI website at www.bsaci.org.
 
King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 140 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres - more than any other university.



Further information
Kate Moore, Public Relations Officer (Health Schools)
Public Relations Department
Email: kate.moore@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 4334



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