Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills Elected as Royal Society Fellow
News Source: UVa Health System
May 28, 2010 — University of Virginia medical professor Dr. Thomas
Platts-Mills has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his
research into the causes of asthma and allergic disease. The Royal
Society is the United Kingdom's national academy of science and the
oldest scientific academy in the world.
Only a small number of fellows are physicians, and Platts-Mills is the
first allergist ever elected. His election was based on more than 30
years of research on the role that dust mite, cat and cockroach
allergens play in the development of allergic disease and asthma.
His recent work, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in
2008, looked at patients who developed a life-threatening allergic
reaction, called anaphylaxis, during treatment for cancer. In February
2009, he led a study on
anaphylactic reactions that occurred several hours after eating
beef, pork or lamb. Both of these discoveries are related to IgE
antibodies to a complex mammalian sugar that appear to be induced by
tick bites. This represents a paradigm shift in the understanding of
allergic reactions, including those to food.
Platts-Mills was educated at Balliol College, Oxford University. He
received his medical training at St. Thomas' Medical School and earned
his Ph.D. from London University. He is head of the Division of Allergy
and Clinical Immunology in UVa's Department of Medicine. He was
president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
from 2006 to 2007.
The Royal Society has been at the forefront of inquiry and discovery
since its founding in 1660. Past and present members include Isaac
Newton, Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking. The
Fellowship of the Royal Society is composed of 1,350 fellows, 130
foreign members and 25 Nobel Laureates.
The Royal Society's selection process requires that candidates be
nominated by two fellows and undergo a rigorous review process.
Candidates are nominated from all fields of science, but only 44 are
elected every year. Fellows are elected for life and designate
themselves through the use of the letters FRS after their names.
More information about the Royal Society and the new fellows is available here.
