Course Director

Sarbjit Singh Saini, MD, is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Saini completed medical school at the Ohio State University, an internal medicine residency at the University of Michigan, and an allergy fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, where he joined the faculty in 1997. He became the Allergy Fellowship Program Director in 2008 and has overseen the training of more than 40 allergy clinical fellows.

Dr. Saini’s research on immunoglobulin (Ig) E receptors and IgE receptor activation of blood basophils and mast cells has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), American Lung Association (ALA), and industry. Dr. Saini has served as the principal investigator and co-investigator for basic and translational studies examining allergic airways disease, anaphylaxis, and chronic urticaria. He has published over 125 journal articles, book chapters, and editorials.

He has served as a section editor for Allergy and the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and is the current editor for the urticaria, angioedema, and mast cell disorders section for UpToDate. Dr. Saini is also an active board member of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, and the AAAAI. He is co-chair of the new Joint Task Force on Urticaria Practice Parameters for the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology and AAAAI.

Jonathan A. Bernstein, MD, is Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and a partner of the Bernstein Allergy Group and Clinical Research Center. He received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (1981-1985) and completed his residency in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Hospital (1985-1988) and his allergy/clinical immunology training at Northwestern University (1988-1990). He has a variety of research interests, including allergic skin diseases—notably chronic urticaria, angioedema, atopic dermatitis, and mast cell disorders—chronic cough, asthma, and rhinosinusitis. He is President-Elect of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) and a member of the AAAAI foundation, the Joint Task Force Guideline committee, the World Allergy Organization (WAO), the Interasma board of directors, the Global Initiative for Asthma advocacy council, and the US Hereditary Angioedema Association organization medical advisory board. He is also chairperson of Allergists for Israel. Dr. Bernstein is the recipient of Distinguished Clinician Awards from the AAAAI and WAO (2019). He has authored over 410 peer-reviewed articles and over 40 book chapters and is the editor of 5 books pertaining to asthma, rhinitis, and immunodeficiency.

Marta Ferrer, MD, PhD, is the Dean of the Universidad de Navarra School of Medicine in Pamplona, Spain. She is also Head of the Department of Allergy at the University Hospital.

Born in Barcelona, Spain, she received her medical degree from the University of Zaragoza and her doctorate from the University of Navarra, obtaining the PhD Annual Award. After completing her doctorate and allergy residency, Dr. Ferrer worked as a postdoctoral associate in the Division of Allergy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and subsequently as a research associate at the Division of Allergy at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Her work and research focus on studying the physiopathology of chronic spontaneous urticaria and implementing innovative medical education. Currently, she has a research grant project from the National Ministry of Research, Development and Innovation for a clinical trial on the use of nanoparticles for oral peanut immunotherapy and a national research grant on the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of histaminergic angioedema. Dr. Ferrer also coordinates a research network and a biologicals database for allergic diseases.

Emek Kocatürk Göncü, MD, is Professor at the Department of Dermatology, Koç University School of Medicine in Istanbul, Turkey. She is head of the outpatient care unit for the Urticaria Center of Reference and Excellence (UCARE) and the Atopic Dermatitis Center of Reference and Excellence Centers. She received her medical degree from Hacettepe University Medical School, completed her dermatology residency in 2004, and has been in practice for 21 years.

She acquired the degree of associate professor in 2012 and in 2013, she became the head of the dermatology department at the Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul, where she taught residents for 7 years. Prof. Kocatürk has been running the urticaria specialtist polyclinic since 2007. The specialty policlinic gained GA²LEN Urticaria Center of Reference and Excellence in 2017. She received her professorship degree in 2021 and has worked as a lecturer and researcher at the Koç University Medical School Department of Dermatology in Istanbul since 2019.

Prof. Kocatürk’s research focuses on the treatment of urticaria, urticaria in pregnancy and lactation, COVID-19 and urticaria, and urticarial vasculitis, as well as measurement of quality of life impairment and the use of patient-reported outcomes in urticaria and angioedema. She has more than 100 publications on urticaria as well as other dermatologic conditions. Her clinical emphasis is on urticaria, angioedema, atopic dermatitis, chronic pruritus, and contact dermatitis.

Prof. Kocatürk is a board member of the Urticaria Network e.V.; a member of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, the European Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and the European Society for Contact Dermatitis; and secretary of the Dermatological Allergy Taskforce of the Turkish Dermatology Society. She also serves as a steering committee member of the UCARE Network.