When it comes to AllergyTampa, located on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. near E. Fletcher Ave., caring for individuals with allergies and immunological diseases goes beyond the walls of the office. Doctors Richard Lockey, Seong Cho, Mark Glaum, Amber Pepper and newest addition Dr. Emily Dzoba not only provide quality care for thousands of patients, they also participate in ground-breaking research and train students and medical professionals in the specialty.
A founding faculty member of the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine, Dr. Richard Lockey helped start USF’s Division of Allergy & Immunology in 1973, along with founding director Dr. Samuel Bukantz. More than 50 years later, USF’s Division of Allergy & Immunology has been recognized as a World Allergy Organization “Center of Excellence.”
Dr. Lockey earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree from the Temple University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, before becoming a Professor of Medicine at USF. He is a past president of the World Allergy Organization and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).
Dr. Lockey first established his private practice in 1984 as “Academic Associates in Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.” At that time, Dr. Lockey humbly wondered if he would even have enough patients. Within just five years, he was already getting referrals for severe asthmatics. Now, 40 years later, AllergyTampa’s flagship practice is thriving and there is a second location in South Tampa, and Dr. Lockey is still actively involved, seeing patients two days a week in addition to his teaching and research at USF.
Despite his 50+ years of experience, Dr. Lockey appears to be in no rush to retire. His love of the work is evident — and not surprising — since his interest in allergy and immunology was sparked at a young age. Going on rounds with his father, a family physician who later specialized in allergy and immunology, Dr. Lockey says he was greatly impacted by what he witnessed — especially people who were struggling to breathe deeply.
Then, after doing a research paper on asthma in medical school, it became clear to him that allergy & immunology was the specialty in which he wanted to make his mark. Dr. Lockey, and his colleagues at AllergyTampa, continue to be at the forefront of quality patient care that benefits from clinical research, Board-certified expertise and a desire to improve the quality of life for those suffering from allergies and immunological diseases.
“The advances in immunology have totally revolutionized our care,” Dr. Lockey says. “The treatment of allergic and immunological diseases, in my lifetime, has changed exponentially. People no longer die from diseases they used to die from.”
Participating in those advances enables the doctors at AllergyTampa to provide informed, expert care for their patients.
Dr. Lockey’s colleague, Dr. Seong Cho, shares his optimism about where medical science is heading. An otolaryngologist, or ear, nose & throat (ENT) specialist, Dr. Cho earned his M.D. degree from Kyung Hee University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. He honed his allergy and immunology expertise at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL, before joining AllergyTampa.
Dr. Cho describes how research of biologics (a class of drugs that can be used to treat a variety of allergic conditions, including asthma, eczema and food allergies) is expanding. Biologics are now being used to help with other conditions and are altering approaches to treatment altogether. As an ENT, Dr. Cho has seen first-hand how these advances have major impacts — for example, for patients who have nasal polyps, which are non-cancerous growths inside the nose or sinuses that can last for several months and are more common with allergies, asthma and frequent infections. While small nasal polyps may not cause symptoms, larger ones can cause discomfort and complications that need to be addressed.
“In the past, nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis were surgical diseases,” Dr. Cho says. “But now, because of those medications, you don’t need to have repeated surgeries. We figure out [which] molecule causes the problem and target it.” That precision means fewer side effects for patients and, as their use continues, injections may have the potential to treat a variety of other conditions. That marriage of research and patient care by the doctors at AllergyTampa has led to other life-changing treatments.
Dr. Mark Glaum describes how clinical research changed the landscape of how hereditary angioedema (HAE) is treated. HAE is an immune reaction which can be triggered by any number of potentially everyday occurrences, from anxiety and stress to colds and even minor injuries like a scratch. It can cause swelling of the face, intestinal tract and airway and, depending upon the location and severity, also can cause disfigurement or even potentially be life-threatening. HAE previously was only treated with supportive care, but that too has evolved, thanks to the clinical research involved in creating products that are now on the market.
Dr. Glaum describes how these new medications helped a specific patient that had been extremely limited by her HAE.
“She had never gone on a cruise, or a vacation outside of a metropolitan area, because she was afraid that she would have an attack and need treatment,” Dr. Glaum shares. “But, now that she is controlled, with no flare-ups or swelling on the medication, she is free to go and enjoy life and vacations outside of the city.”
Dr. Glaum earned his M.D. degree from Hahnemann University School of Medicine (now Drexel University College of Medicine) in Philadelphia, and completed an allergy and clinical immunology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, also in Philadelphia. He says that when he came out of his training, there was only supportive care for hereditary angioedema.
Quality Of Life Improvements
Helping people with allergies and immunological diseases improve their overall quality of life is a priority for all of the doctors at AllergyTampa. Dr. Amber Pepper says she was inspired to focus on the specialty in medical school, after meeting her husband, who has allergies and asthma, and seeing how those conditions affected him. That personal connection, along with the opportunity to shadow Dr. Dennis Ledford (who retired from this same practice), whom she calls an amazing mentor, at USF, made it an obvious choice. Dr. Pepper went on to earn her M.D. degree from USF in 2013 and completed her internal medicine residency and allergy & immunology fellowship at USF in 2016.
Dr. Pepper emphasizes the importance of identifying food allergies, which she says are distinct from food sensitivities and intolerances.
“The thing about food allergies, that is really important, is that if you are truly allergic, you can potentially have anaphylaxis (a severe allergic reaction that can cause patients to go into shock if not treated immediately), which can be life threatening,” she says, adding that, “there are now certain types of immunotherapies that we can do to try to increase the threshold of food allergies.”
For people who suffer from certain environmental allergies, Florida can be especially challenging according to Dr. Emily Dzoba, the newest member of the AllergyTampa team. Dr. Dzoba earned her M.D. degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville in 2019 and completed her internal medicine residency there in 2022. In June of this year, she completed her allergy & immunology fellowship at USF and came to AllergyTampa in October.
“What’s pretty unique here in Florida is the pollen season,” Dr. Dzoba says. “It lasts all the way from January to May because of the climate.”
Keeping track of area pollen levels is key for these reasons and the pollen-counting station at USF, which is run by Dr. Glaum, is there to help the wider Tampa Bay community.
“We do counts of pollens that are in the air at any given point and time, on a weekly basis, and report it to the National Allergy Bureau,” Dr. Glaum explains. “It helps our patients keep track of what’s in the air that they might be sensitive to, and gives them a heads-up.”
One thing that Dr. Glaum says makes AllergyTampa — where all of the doctors are Board-certified (Dr. Dzoba’s Board certification is pending) and members of AAAAI — unique is that, “We try to make sure when you come in you see a physician, each time. You don’t see a PA or nurse practitioner. We pride ourselves on taking care of patients like they were our family members.”
AllergyTampa has offices at 13801 BBD Blvd., Suite 502, and in South Tampa at 1906 W. Platt St. For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit AllergyTampa.com or call (813) 971-9743.
