Episode One: Sung Poblete (CEO of FARE)

Sung Poblete serves as the CEO of FARE, an acronym for Food Allergy Research and Education. FARE is a non-profit dedicated to funding research, advancing treatment options, and raising awareness about the serious public health impact of food allergies. In this episode, you'll learn why food allergies affect over 30 million Americans and why they haven't received the attention they deserve as a tier-one health issue. Our aim is to support FARE in changing this reality. Despite being the largest food allergy-focused organization in the United States, FARE is relatively young at just 11 years old and relies on support from donors, sponsors, and allies to expand its efforts.   In this episode, Sung and Jim discuss the genetic origins of allergies and how they manifest, as well as the continued reliance on EpiPens as the primary treatment for anaphylaxis despite the rising prevalence of life-threatening food allergies, affecting approximately 1 in 13 children. The cost of EpiPens, around $1400 per year, poses a significant financial burden for the 44 million Americans who require them. Poblete emphasizes the need to make giving to FARE's cause appealing and stresses the importance of funding for discovery and translational research to provide treatment options while scientists work towards a cure. As a Real Health Citizen, her insights are invaluable, and we're honored to have her on Get Real with the Chairman.