Amal Assa’ad, MD is Professor at the University of Cincinnati (UC), Director of Clinical Services and Associate Director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology (A/I) at Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC).
Dr. Assa’ad graduated summa cum laude from the American College for Girls, Cairo, Egypt and obtained her M.D. degree with Honors in 1978 from Ain shams University Medical School in Cairo, Egypt. She obtained a master’s degree in Internal Medicine from Ain Shams University Graduate School with a thesis on food allergy testing. After a residency in Internal Medicine at Cairo University Affiliated Hospitals, she was awarded a scholarship to study food allergy at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Assa’ad completed a residency in Internal Medicine/Pediatrics at the Michigan State University and at Wright State University. In 1996, after completing an A/I fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital under the mentorship of Dr. Michelle Lierl and Dr. Thomas Fischer, she was appointed to the faculty of the division and assumed CCHMC/UC A/I fellowship directorship till 2013.
Dr. Assa’ad has been certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and maintains certification by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.
Dr. Assa’ad has been the recipient of several national awards, including the Clemens von Pirquet Award in 1994 from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), and the Women in Allergy Award in 2005 from the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) and the Woman in Allergy Award in 2013 from the ACAAI. She has received awards from the pediatric residents at CCHMC, the ‘Golden Spoon Award’ twice, for contributions to morning report and the ‘Firmie’ award for contributions to firms. She has been listed yearly among the Best Doctors of America and among the Best Doctors in Cincinnati.
Dr. Assa’ad has been active in national and local organizations, having chaired the CCHMC Women Faculty Organization, the Cincinnati Allergy and Asthma Society, both the ACAAI and the AAAAI Adverse Food Reactions Committee, and the Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program Directors Committee. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the AAAAI. She has given multiple named lectureships including the Loiusa Businco, the Joseph Ghory and the Donald Fournier lectureships. She has been a sought after local, national and international speaker, aided by her fluency in four languages. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and a reviewer for the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Health.
Dr. Assa’ad is a clinician, a researcher and an educator. As a clinician, she has established the Food Allergy Clinic at CCHMC, which has grown from 200 visits in 1999 to over 2000 visits in 2013. She is a founding member of the Asthma Center at CCHMC. As a researcher she has conducted multiple clinical trials and published original research in A/I, specifically in eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders, food allergy, drug allergy and immunodeficiency. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed manuscript and book chapters. As an educator she has graduated 45 A/I fellows and mentored hundreds of medical students and residents from around the country as well as residents and physicians from around the world in clinical and research rotations.