Professor Adam Fox OBE is the Founding Director of the Allergy Centre of Excellence and a Professor of Paediatric Allergy.
ACE: Putting allergy patients at the centre
The Allergy Centre of Excellence (ACE), based in the Harley Street Health District, is the UK’s first purpose-built allergy centre. Founded by leading paediatric allergist Professor Adam Fox, alongside Professors Gideon Lack and George de Toit, it is setting a new standard in how allergic conditions are diagnosed, treated and understood.
Adam’s role in the District
Adam is one of the UK’s best-known allergy specialists and a Professor of Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London. He co-founded ACE with a vision to create a space built specifically for allergy patients – one that could offer specialist care, clinical research, and education all under one roof.
“The Allergy Centre of Excellence is really the realisation of a 15-year dream – to design a space with allergy patients at the absolute centre of everything we do.”
He explains that ACE is entirely owned and led by the clinicians who work there. “There are no external investors. Our only vested interest is delivering the best possible clinical care.”
The vision for the centre took shape within the Harley Street Health District. We asked why this location felt right.
“This is sort of the centre of the world medically – it feels like the middle of everything,” Adam said. “The first ever recorded case of oral immunotherapy for food allergy was written up in The Lancet in 1908, and it happened on Harley Street. So being here feels like coming back to where the science was born.”
The changing field of allergy
In recent years, allergy care has been transformed by new approaches that move beyond avoidance to controlled exposure – particularly for food allergies.
“There’s been a real paradigm shift in our specialty — away from avoidance as the answer to everything, towards controlled exposure as the way forward.”
At ACE, Adam and his team use desensitisation techniques like oral immunotherapy (OIT) to help patients tolerate foods that once caused severe reactions.
“When a child who once reacted to a quarter of a peanut can sit and eat 25 – it still feels like a miracle.”
The science is still evolving, but ACE is helping to shape what good looks like, offering a blueprint for excellence and safety in what remains an emerging field.
Perspectives
We asked Adam what it means to be part of the Harley Street Health District community.
“There’s a community here with shared values – around caring, around high-quality care, and around innovation,” he said. “Behind those historic facades, there’s really innovative stuff going on – this is absolutely cutting-edge around here.”
When asked what he loves most about working in the area, he laughed.
“One of the real benefits of working round here is that there’s always somewhere you’ve never heard of before — Swedish, Japanese, Italian — all within five minutes’ walk.”
He recommends Sergio’s and Delamina for lunch, and Carlotta for something more special.
Looking ahead
“This isn’t just a local exercise, this is about changing practice globally,” Adam said. “It’s an exciting time to be in allergy. It’s still an emerging science, but one that’s genuinely transforming lives.”
We publish a new People of Harley Street Health District profile each month.
You can catch up on previous episodes on our YouTube channel including Natalie Brown, Spacemade, and Dr Emer MacSweeney, Re:Cognition Health.
