Information about membership, including how to become a member, can be found here.

AAISG members receive a yearly subscription to Allergy and Asthma Proceedings.

Dues help support the local allergy training program at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

President: Rodney Johnson, M.D.

Dr. Rodney Johnson graduated and completed his residency training at the Medical College of Georgia and then completed a fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at Children’s Mercy Hospital/University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). After practicing for several years in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Johnson established Middle Georgia Allergy and Asthma and currently practices in Dublin, Georgia.

President-elect: Richard Bickel, M.D.

Dr. Richard Bickel completed his fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Following retirement from the U.S. Army, he joined the faculty at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, where he serves as the Associate Program Director for the MCG Allergy-Immunology fellowship program.

Secretary: Dean Firschein, M.D.

Dr. Dean Firschein moved to Athens Georgia in 1998 and began his medical training in New York City, where the emergency rooms and physicians’ offices were filled with patients suffering from their allergies and asthma. Patients were missing work or school due to uncontrolled symptoms and Dr. Firschein found that many of these patients lacked clear asthma and allergy care plans; They were often treated with multiple medications to temporarily relieve symptoms.

“My philosophy is to work with the patients and their families to develop effective and practical treatment plans that allow them to take control of their Asthma and Allergies allowing them to enjoy a normal lifestyle.”

Treasurer: Jennifer Shih, M.D.

Dr. Jennifer Shih is a board-certified physician and Assistant Professor in the department of medicine and department of pediatrics at Emory University. She practices allergy, asthma, and immunology both at Emory Children’s Center and adult Emory Clinics. She is the Director of the pediatric allergy clinics and the Assistant Director of the adult asthma, allergy and immunology clinic. She established the Pediatric Transition Immunology clinic at Emory University in 2013.

She received her doctor of medicine from Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans as one of ten students accepted in the accelerated medical school program. She subsequently completed residency training and allergy/immunology fellowship training at Emory University. She has presented at multiple national meetings in her field with research interests including asthma, food allergy, transplant immunology, and primary immunodeficiencies. She has appeared on media outlets such as CNN, WebMD, and with Sanjay Gupta.