FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS — A health communication expert at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has been named to a national board that will help the leading U.S. organization dedicated to advocacy for research and education about life-threatening food allergies prioritize its research initiatives.
Jennifer Bute, an associate professor of communication studies in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, is one of about 40 researchers, patients and caregivers selected by Food Allergy Research and Education to serve for two years on its new Outcomes Research Advisory Board. FARE received more than 200 advisory board member applications.
Bute brings scholarly expertise in the area of health communication, the concerns of a parent of a 6-year-old boy who has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts and tree nuts, and knowledge gained through advocacy work in Indianapolis in the food allergy community.
FARE created the advisory board after being awarded the Eugene Washington Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to fund its “Empowering Patient Partners and Key Stakeholders to Develop a Patient-Centric Food Allergy Research Program.”
The board will inform and help develop a patient-centered research agenda related to food allergy diagnosis, management strategies, therapeutic options and disparities in care among some minority populations. It is expected that it will influence the process of selecting and prioritizing research and selecting potential clinical trial designs.
Members of the board, divided into four regions, will meet regionally by phone once a month and as a regional group quarterly. All members of the board will meet annually.
FARE works on behalf of 15 million Americans with food allergies, including those at risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis. This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in every 13 children in the United States. FARE’s mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies and to provide them hope through the promise of new treatments.