Tanya M. Laidlaw, MD
Dr. Tanya Laidlaw completed her medical degree at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, her residency in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, and then entered an Allergy/Immunology fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
She performed her research training in the laboratory of Joshua A. Boyce, MD, where she focused on the pathogenesis of severe asthma, respiratory inflammation, Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD), and the pro-inflammatory role of the platelet and specific lipids in these disorders. She joined the faculty in 2009 and is now an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and is the Director of Translational Research in Allergy and Director of the AERD Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She continues to be dedicated to investigating the causative mechanisms that underlie asthma, respiratory inflammation, and nasal polyposis, and to exploring new treatments for these diseases.
In addition to her research and clinical work at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Laidlaw enjoys long-distance running, spending time with her family and two teenagers, and traveling.
Kathleen Buchheit, MD
Dr. Katie Buchheit completed her medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY, her residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and then entered an Allergy/Immunology fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
During fellowship, she performed her research training in the laboratory of Drs. Tanya Laidlaw and Joshua Boyce, MD, where she focused on the pathogenesis of nasal polyposis and aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). Her studies focused on the role of innate type 2 cytokines, IL-33 and TSLP, in nasal polyps and AERD. She joined the BWH Allergy/Immunology faculty in 2016 and is now the Assistant Director of the AERD Center at BWH. Her research continues to be focused on understanding AERD and nasal polyposis, and she is dedicated to investigating the causative mechanisms and exploring new treatments for these diseases. She is PI of an K23-funded study investigating the role of B cells and plasma cells in the pathogenesis of AERD and nasal polyps. She is also involved in several studies that investigate the mechanism by which newly developed biologics may help as a treatment for nasal polyposis. Clinically, she focuses her practice primarily on the treatment of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and AERD.
Aaqib Sohail, PhD
Aaqib is a Research Scientist who joined the lab in 2020 after completing his Ph.D. at the Twincore Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hannover, Germany. His doctoral research focused on the use of a human lung tissue explant model for functional biomarker studies during the early phase of infections. Additionally, he conducted investigations into the potential of itaconic acid as an anti-inflammatory drug and adjunct treatment for viral infections. Aaqib’s research interests revolve around studying respiratory immune responses, evaluating candidate biomarkers and therapies, and understanding their role in disease, with a particular emphasis on translational research.
Aaqib possesses expertise in in vitro disease modeling, the development of immunological assays, and the analysis of transcriptome high-throughput data using R programming. Currently, his work centers around unraveling the underlying mechanisms of interleukin-5 (IL5) treatment in plasma cells and epithelial cells. The objective is to gain insights into the off-target effects of anti-IL5 treatment in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) and aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). Aaqib’s multidisciplinary approach contributes to the lab’s goal of advancing knowledge in the field of respiratory immunology and improving therapeutic interventions for related conditions.
Jillian Benkso, PA-C
Jillian graduated from Skidmore College with her undergraduate degree in Health and Exercise Sciences. She then worked in the Asthma Research Center here at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a research assistant, working on AERD studies. She went on to earn her Master’s in Physician Assistant Studies from Providence, Rhode Island in 2017. Jillian joined the team in March 2019 and oversees all regulatory requirements for new and ongoing research projects, and coordinates all new patient visits for either clinical consultation or research participation.
Carolyn Baloh, MD
Dr. Carolyn Baloh earned her medical degree from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, PA. She completed pediatrics residency at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in Pittsburgh, PA followed by Allergy/Immunology fellowship at Duke University in Durham, NC.
Dr. Baloh joined the BWH Allergy/Immunology faculty in 2021 as an Instructor. She is also currently the Lead Biologist for the Allergy Assessment Group of the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), NIAID. Her research focuses on the induction of tolerance in clinical trials as well as improving the understanding of mechanisms by which tolerance is developed. She oversees all mechanistic project planning, conduct, interpretation, and publication for allergy related clinical trials at the ITN. Current trials are targeted to treat food allergy, seasonal allergy, perennial allergy, and progression of the atopic march. We also perform studies assessing the natural history of allergy development. Clinically, she focuses her practice on patients with food allergy, environmental allergy, asthma, and immunodeficiency.
Chongjia Chen, MD
Dr. Chongjia Chen is a third-year fellow in Allergy and Immunology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Chen graduated cum laude from Harvard College with an A.B. in Human Evolutionary Biology. She completed her medical degree at her state medical school, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and trained in internal medicine at Boston Medical Center. In the Laidlaw Lab, she is studying the effects of interleukin-4 receptor alpha (IL-4Rα) blockade in the tissues of patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). Outside of the lab, Dr. Chen’s clinical interests are chronic rhinosinusitis, asthma, environmental allergies, atopic dermatitis, and chronic urticaria.
Rose Corcoran, BA
Rose graduated in May 2023 from Hamilton College where she majored in Biology. She is a clinical research coordinator in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and is planning to go to medical school in the future. In her free time, she enjoys singing and trying new food spots with friends and family.
Alyson Brown, BA
Alyson graduated from Wellesley College in May 2023 where she majored in Neuroscience. She is a clinical research coordinator in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and she plans to go to medical school in the future. In her free time, she enjoys weightlifting and going to art museums.
Laura Bailey, BA
Laura graduated in May 2023 from Hamilton College where she majored in Neuroscience. She is a clinical research coordinator in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and plans to go to medical school in the future. In her free time, she enjoys music and spending time with her friends
Laura Cho, BA
Laura graduated in May 2022 from Wellesley College where she majored in Chemistry. She is the laboratory’s technician and is planning on going to medical school in the future. In her free time, she enjoys golfing and eating out with her friends.
Amelia Maloney, M.A.
Amelia is an administrative assistant who joined the Laidlaw Lab in August 2022. She graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a Master’s Degree in Communication with a concentration in New Media and Marketing. In her free time, she enjoys reading, trying new restaurants, and spending time with family and friends.
Former Team Members
Jyotsna Mullur
Dr. Jyotsna Mullur completed her fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2022, and for her research years she worked in the LaidlawLab and focused her work on the impact of biologic medications on clinical outcomes and healthcare utilization in AERD, and ran the 2-Year Follow-up of AERD Registry (2-FAR) Study. She is now a Medical Instructor in Allergy & Immunology at Duke University.
Marie Lundberg
Dr. Lundberg completed her residency in otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery and her fellowship in rhinology and allergology at Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. She joined the LaidlawLab team for a post-doctoral research year in 2021-2022 and focused her research on the impact of anosmia and the treatment of AERD patients with biologics.
Alanna McGill
Alanna graduated in May 2021 from Hamilton College where she majored in Neuroscience. She is a former AERD clinical research coordinator and is now attending George Washington University’s Physician Assistant Program and Masters of Public Health program.
Tessa Ryan
Tessa graduated in May 2021 from Hamilton College where she double majored in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Hispanic Studies. She is a former AERD clinical research coordinator and will begin attending Tufts University School of Medicine in the fall of 2023.
Victor Omilabu
Victor is an undergraduate student at the City College of New York, studying psychology and chemistry. He is a former STARS summer research student and is planning on pursuing a professional degree in medicine.
Lily Li
Dr. Lily Li performed her fellowship research training in the Laidlaw Lab, and her research focused on understanding the impact of reported nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) allergies on physician practice patterns, medication prescribing, and patient outcomes in diverse patient populations. She also led studies to identify risk factors for the presence and persistence of immune-mediated NSAID allergy. The ultimate goal of her work is to improve the safety and quality of care for drug-allergic patients. She is now an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy & Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington in Seattle, and continues to collaborate on research projects involving NSAID allergies with the Laidlaw Lab.