"Tick-induced Allergies: Mammalian Meat Allergy and Tick Anaphylaxis: A tale of newly emergent allergies, with an extraordinary evolution and surprising public health consequences"

Speaker Prof Sheryl van Nunen OAM

Clinical/allergy immunologist & educator

Professor Sheryl van Nunen OAM, MBBS MM (Sleep Medicine), FRACP , is a Clinical Professor, Faculty of Medicine Health & Human Sciences, Macquarie University, and Clinical Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney  

Aside from being an award-winning medical educator at the University of Sydney, in 2007 she was the first to describe the association between mammalian meat anaphylaxis and prior tick bites.  She has over 175 publications to her credit (68% as first author, with 34 of these published in 2018-2021).  

In 2013, she convened the TiARA (Tick-induced Allergies Research and Awareness) Committee, the peak resource for tick-induced allergies. She is the Director of the Centre for Tick-induced Allergies in Sydney.   The Committee’s achievements include:

-        submission of evidence to the 2019-2020 Parliamentary inquiry into allergies and anaphylaxis; 

-       working with the Australian Dept of Health to develop world-leading advice in tick bite prevention and management; 

-       working with major pharmaceutical companies to develop a tick-specific ether spray, which is now the recommended treatment in Australia and internationally, instead of removal by tweezers; 

-       funding and fostering research underpinning tick bite prevention and management advice.

In addition to her university roles, she is a consultant physician in allergic diseases in Chatswood, as well as a Visiting Medical Officer at Northern Beaches and North Shore Private Hospitals.  Earlier she was Head of the Department of Allergy at Royal North Shore Hospital for over 26 years (1985-2011) and a Senior Staff Specialist at Royal North Shore Hospital from 1988-2020.   She was the Principal Investigator in clinical trials of over 75% of all new therapies introduced to Australia for allergic diseases between 1985-2012.

Also for over a decade, she has filled several roles in the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy since its inception and has contributed her time in a number of capacities to the National Asthma Council of Australasia.  

Her prime research interest comprises mammalian meat allergy/anaphylaxis following previous tick bite and its myriad implications, including the increased risk of atheroma and more severe atheroma with its attendant risks, tick-induced anaphylaxis.  Her work includes ongoing research studies spanning over a decade with her esteemed colleagues in Vietnam, into pharmacogenetic risk factors in severe cutaneous drug reactions in the Vietnamese people, saving numerous lives.