Allergy on the Isle of Wight

Interest in chest disease and allergy is not new to the Isle of Wight. In the nineteenth century, Hill Hassall founded the Hospital for Disease on the Lungs, subsequently the Royal National Hospital for Disease of the Chest, in Ventnor.

Professor Carl Prausnitz in 1921 had made the crucial observation that the blood of an allergic individual contained a transferable factor, subsequently shown to be an antibody. Prausnitz moved from the University of Breslau in 1933 and two years later became a general practitioner on the Isle of Wight in his mother's home village of Bonchurch, where he practiced as Dr. Carl Prausnitz Giles until his death in 1963. Thus the Island has a strong link with a father figure of allergy and immunology.

The Isle of Wight District Health Authority approved the establishment of a clinical allergy service at St Mary's Hospital in 1979. At this time the prevalence of allergic conditions in all children born on the Isle of Wight in 1977 was being recorded.

An increasing research commitment was recognised in 1988 when accommodation was made available at Frank James Hospital, East Cowes, for a small Clinical Allergy Research Unit which was opened by Professor Stephen Holgate. A full-time fellow in clinical allergy, Dr Hasan Arshad, was appointed and the research output increased significantly. Dr Arshad gained an MD for his research with the Isle of Wight birth cohort and the 1990 Allergy Prevention Study.

In 1991 the Unit moved to temporary accommodation at St. Mary's Hospital in Newport. Dr David Hide's retirement from his position as paediatrician and appointment as part-time consultant in clinical allergy, helped the development of allergy and enabled the staff of the Unit to begin planning a purpose-built asthma and allergy research centre. It was realised that the National Health Service was unlikely to cover the capital costs of such an unusual venture so members of the Unit commenced fund raising. In 1994 the building of the Centre became a reality and staff moved into their new Research Centre in September 1995. Unfortunately, Dr David Hide died in March 1996 before the official opening of the Centre by HRH Duchess of Gloucester in July 1996.

In April 1997 Dr Hasan Arshad was appointed Director of The David Hide Asthma and Allergy Research Centre by the Board of Trustees.

In 2004 Dr Graham Roberts joined the research team, working alongside Dr Arshad as Co-Director.