Allergy and Clinical Immunology Center,

 2nd  Department of Pediatrics

 “P&A Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital,

 Medical School,

 National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

 41 Fidippidou street, Goudi, 11527,

 Athens, Greece

 Tel: +302107776964
 Fax: +302107777693 
 vivian.maggina@hotmail.com 

 viva6mag@yahoo.com

I studied medicine at the Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in Greece and completed my education with a degree of excellent. During my medical studies, I have always had a specific interest regarding the immunological aspects of disease pathogenesis, which has been expressed with the selection of related sessions and courses from the Medical University curriculum.

For the last 4 years I have been working as a research associate and PhD student in the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Center of the 2^nd Department of Pediatrics of NKUA under the supervision of Professor Nikos G. Papadopoulos. The focus of my research has been to examine the role of innate immune response during acute bronchiolitis in the subsequent development of wheezing and asthma. Moreover, I have been given the opportunity to participate in many other national and international studies in the field of allergy and asthma. During these years, I have gained valuable experience in many laboratory techniques such as cell culture, Rhinovirus (RV) propagation, RV infection of epithelial cells and PBMCs, ELISA, Luminex, FACS-FLOW, PCR and implicated in the process of data analysis and results publication. I have also been exposed to the clinical aspects of Allergology, participating in the procedure of diagnosis and treatment of allergic patients. Furthermore, I have been trained in specific diagnostic procedures such as Impulse Oscillometry and Skin Prick Testing.

For the last 3 years I have also been working as a resident in pediatrics in “P &A Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital. During these years I have had the opportunity to participate in the management of complicated pediatric patients with severe infections, autoimmune syndromes, severe rheumatologic disorders, malignancies and hematologic diseases. In all the aforementioned clinical cases, it has been clear to me that specific or more obscure immune mechanisms caused or conserved the disease pathogenesis and clinical manifestations.  

Since 2007 I have been a junior member of EAACI and I have actively participated in EAACI congresses and many Allergy Schools. I have been given the opportunity to benefit from EAACI organization such as in the form of travel grants and poster prizes, many of which have been derived from JMAs initiatives. Therefore, I strongly recognize the significance of JMA group for young scientists in this field.

As a new member of JMA Working Group and JMA representative of the Immunotherapy Section, I would like to dedicate time and effort:

·  To support the participation of JMAs in EAACI related activities.

·  To promote the active involvement by JMAs in European scientific collaborations and projects mainly in the field of Immunotherapy.

·  To help extending the collaboration between national and international allergology societies.