Karen Thursday S. Tuano, MD

As an allergist and immunologist at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, Dr. Tuano strives to improve the quality of life of children with allergic and immunologic conditions and help their families manage and cope with these conditions. She sees patients with a wide range of allergic conditions, like eczema, food allergy, allergic rhinitis, asthma, drug allergy, and those with problems with recurrent infections and possible immune system deficiencies. She has a special interest in food allergy and has focused on the study of shrimp allergy. Her research interest has been describing the clinical and immunological profile of patients with shrimp allergy, and finding skin and blood test markers to predict clinical reactivity to shrimp.  

Personal Statement

Being one of the first clinicians at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands gave me the opportunity to establish The David Clinic. This provided me the ideal environment to fully develop my clinical expertise in allergy and immunology and to write policies and guidelines. 

• I am responsible for seeing patients for consultation, supervising staff and assessing patients with allergen immunotherapy and oral challenges.
• I helped establish a program for patients with eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases, which entails a multi-disciplinary approach that also involves the gastrointestinal specialists and nutritionists.  
• I have co-written a policy and guideline for treating anaphylaxis in the clinic setting, which has been implemented and as a result, helped decrease the number of patients who are sent to the ER for allergic reaction in clinic.  

I continue to promote patient care by formulating QI projects on eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases, food and drug allergies. One of my community outreach programs involves educating primary care providers and school nurses on common allergic conditions they may encounter. 

Clinical Interests

Food allergy focused on shrimp allergy, Eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases

Education

Organizations

* Texas Children’s Hospital physicians’ licenses and credentials are reviewed prior to practicing at any of our facilities. Sections titled From the Doctor, Professional Organizations and Publications were provided by the physician’s office and were not verified by Texas Children’s Hospital.

Research interests

Describing the clinical and immunological profile of patients with shrimp allergy, and finding skin and blood test markers to predict clinical reactivity to shrimp 

Tuano KTS, Seth N, Chinen J, Anagnostou A, Insights from a single center Registry of Infant and Toddler Anaphylaxis: Food and Fire Ants. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2023.09.024.

Neehus AL, Tuano K, Le Voyer T, Nandiwala S, Murthi K, Cassanova JL, Puel A, Chinen C, Bustamante J. Chronic granulomatous disease-like presentation of a child with autosomal recessive PKCδ deficiency. Journal of Clinical Immunology. 2022 Aug;42(6):1244-1253.

Seth N, Tuano KS, Chinen J. Inborn errors of immunity: Recent progress. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2021 Dec;148(6):1442-1450.

Tuano KS, Seth N, Chinen J. Secondary Immunodeficiency. An overview. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2021 Dec; 127(6):617-626.

Bethea LH, Tuano K, Seth N, Chinen J. Hereditary tryptasemia in identical twins. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2021 June; 19:S1081-1206.

Seth N, Tuano K, Buheis M, Chan A, Chinen J. Serum tryptase levels in a large pediatric cohort with mastocytosis and association with symptom severity. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2020 Aug;125(2):219-221.

Tuano KTS, Davis CM. Oral allergy syndrome in shrimp and house dust mite allergies. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. 2018 Nov–Dec; 6(6):2163-64.

View VIICTR Publications