Physician Credentials
Dr. Mandel R. Sher: Training, Faculty Appointment and Published Research
Who he is, in one paragraph
Dr. Mandel Sher founded Sher Allergy Specialists out of a deep desire to make people feel better, whether they suffer from straightforward allergies and asthma, or complex medical problems that are yet to be solved. He has extensive training and research experience in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; Pediatrics; Adolescent Medicine; and Pediatric Rheumatology.
He is a frequent program faculty member for national professional society meetings, a contributing author in peer-reviewed medical journals, and serves on committees and in leadership roles for professional societies.
Training
Two board certifications is the credential that matters most to families. It means the same physician is formally certified both in the care of children and in allergy and immunology — so a child evaluated here is not being seen by an adult specialist making an accommodation.
Medical School
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Residency
Duke University Medical Center; Boston Children’s Hospital — where he served as Chief Resident
Fellowships
University of Michigan Medical Center; Boston Children’s Hospital
Board Certifications
American Board of Allergy & Immunology; American Board of Pediatrics
USF Morsani College of Medicine faculty appointment
Dr. Sher is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Division of Allergy and Immunology, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine.
A clinical faculty appointment means teaching the next generation of allergists and being accountable to an academic division for how the specialty is practiced. It also keeps a practicing physician in continuous contact with fellows, residents and the current literature — the practical reason a patient benefits from being seen by a doctor who also teaches.
Dr. Johana Castro Wagner completed her Allergy and Immunology fellowship through USF at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, training under Dr. Sher, where she excelled in teaching sessions for pediatric residents-in-training.
Professional society roles
Dr. Sher is a Fellow of both major national bodies in the specialty and serves on the committees that shape practice in the areas his patients come to him for — asthma, cough and respiratory disorders.
- Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
- Fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
- Asthma Committee of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
- Respiratory and Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders Committee of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
- Asthma, Cough, Diagnosis and Treatment Committee of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Published research: chronic cough
Chronic cough had almost no dedicated drug therapy for decades. The class of compounds that changed that — P2X3 receptor antagonists — was tested in a series of international trials, and Dr. Sher is a listed author and investigator on several of the published reports.
- Smith JA, Kitt MM, Morice AH, Birring SS, McGarvey LP, Sher MR, Li Y-P, Wu W-C, Xu ZJ, Muccino DR, Ford AP; Protocol 012 Investigators. “Gefapixant, a P2X3 receptor antagonist, for the treatment of refractory or unexplained chronic cough: a randomised, double-blind, controlled, parallel-group, phase 2b trial.” Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2020.
- Smith JA, Kitt MM, Butera P, Smith SA, Li Y, Xu ZJ, Holt K, Sen S, Sher MR, Ford AP. “Gefapixant in two randomised dose-escalation studies in chronic cough.” European Respiratory Journal, 2020 Mar 20;55(3):1901615.
- Sher MR, Birring S, Smith JA, McGarvey L, Morice A, Wu WC, Xu ZJ, Muccino DR. “Evaluation of cough triggers among responders and non-responders of treatment with MK-7264, a P2X3 receptor antagonist.” American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology — 75th Annual Meeting, 2019.
- Birring SS, McGarvey L, Smith JA, Morice AH, Sher MR, Wu W-C, Xu ZJ, Nguyen AM, Schelfhout J, Muccino DR. “Baseline patient burden in chronic cough from a Phase 2b clinical trial of gefapixant, a P2X3 receptor antagonist.” European Respiratory Society, September 2019.
- Smith J, Ballantyne E, Kerr M, McGarvey L, Morice A, Sher M, Trower M, Pawsey S. “The neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist orvepitant improves chronic cough symptoms: results from a Phase 2b trial.” European Respiratory Society — International Congress, September 2019.
- Morice AH, Birring S, McGarvey L, Sher MR, Mehta A, Muccino DR, Smith JA. “Consistency of improvement with gefapixant, a P2X3 receptor antagonist, in chronic cough patients during waking hours and over 24 hours.” CHEST Annual Meeting, October 2019.
- Birring S, McGarvey L, Smith JA, Morice AH, Sher MR, Schelfhout J, Mehta A, Muccino DR. “Benefits observed with patient-reported outcomes in a phase 2b clinical trial of gefapixant, a P2X3 receptor antagonist in chronic cough.” CHEST Annual Meeting, October 2019.
- Morice AH, McGarvey L, Smith JA, Sher MR, Vaezi M, Guilleminault L, Niimi A, Dicpinigaitis P. “Phase IIb study design for BAY 1817080 in the treatment of refractory chronic cough.” European Respiratory Society Congress, Vienna, September 2020.
Published research: chronic sinusitis and immunology
Dr. Sher is the first listed author on the EXHANCE-3 sinusitis cohort study published in Rhinology — a study of a delivery system designed to get medication into the sinuses that ordinary nasal sprays do not reach, in patients with chronic sinusitis with or without nasal polyps. If you are a patient whose sinus disease has resisted everything, that is the literature your allergist helped generate.
- Sher MR, Steven GC, Romett JL, Pien G, LeBenger K, Messina JC, Carothers JL, Mahmoud RA, Djupesland PG. “EXHANCE-3 cohort study of exhalation delivery system with fluticasone for chronic sinusitis with or without nasal polyps.” Rhinology, Volume 58, Issue 1, 2020.
- Khan F, Ledford DK, Weston EW, Sher MR. “An Unusual Presentation of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor (PanNET).” American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology — 75th Annual Meeting, 2019.
Honors
Peer selection is a meaningful signal in a referral specialty: the physicians voting are the ones who send their own difficult patients somewhere.
- Best Doctor in America
- Best Allergy and Immunology Specialist in Pinellas County
- US News & World Report
- Physician Extraordinaire at USF Morsani College of Medicine
- Patients’ feedback on exceptional care, service, and outcomes
Questions about Dr. Sher’s credentials and research
Is he an author on the chronic cough drug trials?
He is a listed author and investigator on several of them, including the phase 2b gefapixant trial published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine and the dose-escalation studies published in the European Respiratory Journal. He is also first listed author on the EXHANCE-3 chronic sinusitis cohort study published in Rhinology.
Does Dr. Sher still see patients, or is he mainly a researcher?
He practices. He leads Sher Allergy Specialists and the Center for Cough, and a board-certified Allergist/Immunologist is on-site for every visit. The research program runs alongside the clinic rather than in place of it.
How do I get an appointment with him specifically?
Call our friendly office team at 727-397-8557 and tell them which physician you would like to see. They will find the earliest appointment that fits, and can tell you about telehealth virtual visits if you are elsewhere in Florida.
The doctor who teaches it and studies it can also treat it
Call our friendly Sher Allergy team to schedule an evaluation at our Largo office.
Largo Professional Center
11200 Seminole Blvd #310
Largo, FL 33778
Monday 8:00-5:00
Tuesday 9:00-6:00
Wednesday 8:00-5:00
Thursday 8:00-5:00
Friday 8:00-12:00