Biography
Kathy L. Franklin is the mother of a son, Max, who has severe allergies to tree nuts and sesame seeds, and a daughter, Lisa, who is food-allergy free but suffers from some seasonal allergies. She is a longtime member of the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI), and co-founder of the annual FAI Spring Luncheon, which consistently attracts 600 participants and raises more than $750,000 annually to support FAI’s work in research, education and advocacy. Kathy has served on the member advisory board of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), and she was honored in 2010 with a FAAN Mariel C. Furlong Award for Community Service, as well as the 2010 FAI Legacy Award. Kathy has led the New York City support group, Parents of Asthmatic & Allergic Children, for the last 20 years. She writes a column for parents and patients, Food Allergy Corner, at AsthmaAllergiesChildren.com. Kathy’s current focus is on raising awareness of the need for food allergy patients to take part in clinical research trials. To that end, in 2011 she established the Food Allergy Research Alliance, a group of 26 prominent New York-area physicians committed to educating their patients and communities about opportunities for participating in food allergy research. Information on ongoing and upcoming clinical trials is available at FoodAllergyResearchAlliance.com. Plans are currently underway to replicate this alliance in the Chicago area. Prior to becoming a stay-at-home mom, and concentrating on food allergy advocacy, Kathy worked in her family’s charter bus business, Campus Coach Lines, founded at the University of Michigan by her father, Bert Askwith, Class of 1931. Kathy has a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University and a Master of Arts in psychology from the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research.