Cezmi Akdis

Cezmi Akdis is a medical researcher in the field of immunology. He is director of the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) in Davos, Switzerland and the editor in chief of the journal Allergy.

He has been a professor in University of Zürich Medical Faculty since 2006, and one of the directors of the Christine Kühne-Center for Allergy Research and Education in Davos, Switzerland.

Education
Akdis Received his medical degree from Uludag University Medical Faculty, Bursa, Turkey in 1985. He has specialized in infectious disease and clinical microbiology 1991 and in immunology at Uludag University in 1994, and further was named a Venia Legendi (Habilitation) at the University of Zürich 2001.

Publications
Akdis has published more than 650 articles. His current h-index is 140. and he has received over 80,000 citations. He has also been selected to the ISI Web of Science and has received the Thomson Reuters (Clarivate) Highly Cited Researcher in the field of immunology in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Academic history

 * President of the European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (14,000 members) between 2011 and 2013
 * Executive Committee Member between 2003-2015 and Vice President between 2007 and 2011
 * Senate Member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, 2014
 * Editor of three Global Atlases. Allergy, Asthma, and Allergic Rhinitis and Chronic Rhinosinusitis
 * Associate Editor 2007-2015 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
 * Co-Editor-in-Chief 2015-2018 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
 * Editor-in-Chief of Allergy 2018–present

Organizations

 * Founder and organizer of World Immune Regulation Meetings, Davos I-XIV (600-1000 participants)
 * One of the founders and Past Chair of International Coalition in Allergy and Asthma (iCAALL), a presidents' network between 4 main organizations in the area of allergy and clinical immunology
 * European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
 * American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology
 * American College of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
 * World Allergy Organization
 * One of the founders and executive committee member of Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA2LEN).

Contributions

 * Immune regulation and allergen tolerance: Plasticity of antigen-specific T cells, 1996
 * Human T-regulatory cells, 1998
 * Immune suppressive role of histamine receptor 2, 2001
 * Epithelial barrier studies: Mechanisms of eczema, 2000
 * Human Type 2 NK cell subset, 2002
 * Mechanisms of epithelial shedding in asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis, 2003 & 2009
 * Human regulatory NK Cells, 2007
 * Endotypes of asthma, 2011
 * Chronic rhinosinusitis and atopic dermatitis, 2011
 * Epithelial barrier hypothesis for the development of allergic and autoimmune disease, 2000-2022
 * Regulatory Innate Lymphoid Cells, 2019

Honors

 * Ferdinand Wortman Prize, 1996
 * Hoechst Marion Roussel Award, 1998
 * Professor Hans Storck Award, 1998
 * Dr.-Karl Heyer-Preis, 1998
 * Sedat Simavi Medicine Award, 1998
 * Allergopharma Award, 2001
 * European Allergy Research “Gold Medal”, 2004
 * TUBITAK Exclusive Award, 2007
 * BUSIAD Award 2012
 * World Allergy Organization Award, 2013
 * AAAAI, Elliott Middleton Memorial Lecture, 2014
 * European Federation of Immunology Societies, World Immunology Day Lectures, 2014
 * Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, 2015
 * Capital University of Beijing, 2015
 * Swiss Society of Allergy Immunology, 2017
 * Honorary Professor in Capital Medical University, National Tongren Hospital, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngologology, China
 * Honorary member of the Swiss Society of Allergy Immunology (SGAI-SSAI)
 * Harold Nelson Memorial Lecture (AAAAI), 2021
 * Erich Fuchs Prize (German Allergy Association), 2021
 * Honorary Professor, Bursa-Uludag University, 2021