Adam Fox Postgraduate Diploma in Allergy, 2004

President of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

In 2007 Dr Adam Fox was honoured with the ‘Paediatric Allergist of the Year’ award from Allergy UK and in 2012 his doctoral thesis on peanut allergy received the Raymond Horton Smith prize from Cambridge University. He was included in The Times ‘Britain’s 100 Best Children’s Doctors and recently elected President of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Dr Fox tells us why his time at the University of Southampton was such a pivotal step in such a distinguished career.

The University provides students with an excellent grounding in the immunology and clinical aspects of allergy from a world class faculty coupled with unrivalled support from course leaders.

“I was a paediatric specialist trainee but was getting frustrated with the lack of opportunities to demonstrate a genuine knowledge of allergy. So I decided to undertake a Postgraduate Diploma in Allergy and due to Southampton’s strong reputation in this area as well as the well-established course that I could fit into my full-time work schedule, I enrolled with the Faculty of Medicine.

“I was truly looked after by the course leaders together with a high level of expertise amongst the lecturers and now have fond memories that I treasure.

“I especially enjoyed meeting other interesting doctors and nurses who came from a wide variety of backgrounds as well as the opportunity to discuss academic aspects of the course with the tutors.

“Studying at Southampton gave me a solid grounding in allergy and enabled me to turn my essays into published papers and inspired me to continue my training to become a paediatric allergist. Completing a postgraduate degree gave me clarity and was a clear signal of my interest in the area to the people who interviewed me and appointed me to the national paediatric allergy trainee programme.

“I am now one of the relatively few UK doctors with a recognised specialist accredited training in Paediatric Allergy and that is due to the excellent start that the University gave to me.

“I was very impressed with the University of Southampton. There are excellent networking opportunities the University provides students an excellent grounding in the immunology and clinical aspects of allergy from a world class faculty coupled with unrivalled support from course leaders.“