About The MARI
Helping You is Our Priority
Collaborate.Research.Educate.
Midwest Allergy Research Institution (MARI) is part of the Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) Clinical Network. Our goal is to deliver optimal clinical care and leadership in the community to patients with food allergy through the participation in a network carrying out multi-center investigations and other clinical research, as well as helping to train the next generation of food allergy investigators.
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Where We Come From
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”- Helen Keller.
Top allergy specific academic medical centers and leading scientific institutions
The University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is an urban research university that has driven new ways of thinking since 1890. Our commitment to free and open inquiry draws inspired scholars to our global campuses, where ideas are born that challenge and change the world.
Learn more at uchicago.edu and uchospitals.edu
Rush University Medical Center
Rush University System for Health (RUSH) is an academic health system whose mission is to improve the health of the individuals and diverse communities it serves through the integration of outstanding patient care, education, research and community partnerships.
Learn more at rush.edu
The University of Illinois Health
A part of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (UI Health) provides comprehensive care, education, and research to train health care leaders and foster healthy communities in Illinois and beyond.
Learn more at hospital.uillinois.edu
Advocate Health & NorthShore Medical
Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem have combined to create Advocate NorthShore Health Partners (ANHP). Coming together creating a preeminent health care system, focused on a patient-centered, fully integrated population health delivery model.
Learn more at advocatehealth.com and northshore.org
Lurie Children’s Hospital
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provides superior pediatric care in a setting that offers the latest benefits and innovations in medical technology, research and family-friendly design.
Learn more at luriechildrens.org
MARI Directors
Christina Ciaccio – UChicago Medicine
MD, MSc, is the Section Chief, Allergy/Immunology and Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine at UChicago Medicine. She provides compassionate care for children and adults with food and environmental allergies, allergic rhinitis, urticaria and angioedema, allergic rashes and asthma. She strongly believes in educating patients and their families, and involving them in the care process in a meaningful way.
Mary Tobin – Rush
MD, is an associate professor at Rush University and focuses on immunology/microbiology. She was initially interested in women with autoimmune diseases, like Lupus. However, realized that I could take care of both adults and children with allergic and immunologic disease.
Andrea Pappalardo – UI Health
MD, practices in the Division of Pediatric Allergy-Immunology at UI Health. Dr. Pappalardo specializes in the care of patients with asthma and environmental, food, and drug allergies. She believes that the family, physicians, and medical neighborhood should work together in addressing allergy and asthma problems.
Giselle Mosnaim – Northshore
MD, MS, she currently practices Allergy and Immunology in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at NorthShore University HealthSystem and is a Research Scientist at the NorthShore University HealthSystem Research Institute. Dr. Mosnaim is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
Jacqueline Pongracic – Lurie Children’s
MD, is the Division Head, Allergy and Immunology at Lurie Children’s Hospital and a professor of Pediatrics (Allergy and Immunology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her clinical focus is on food allergy, especially IgE-mediated food allergy including food-induced anaphylaxis. Her interests include pathogenesis of allergen sensitization and food allergy, as well as conducting clinical trials of immunomodulatory interventions for food allergy.
Ruchi Gupta – Lurie Children’s
MD, MPH, is currently a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Clinical Attending at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She has more than 15 years of experience as a board-certified pediatrician and health researcher and currently serve as the director of the Science and Outcomes of Allergy & Asthma Research Program (SOAAR), where she is actively involved in clinical, epidemiological, and community-based research.