Allergist

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Work Tasks

ALLERGISTS examine, evaluate, and diagnose problems involving the immune system. They treat diseases having to do with difficulty breathing, such as sinusitis, asthma, and lung diseases. They treat people with eye allergies and skin diseases. They treat allergic reactions to drugs, vaccines, medications, certain foods, and insect stings.

Salary, Size & Growth

• $219,000 average per year ($105.25 per hour)
• A medium occupation (50,100 workers in 2010)
• Expected to grow rapidly (2.2% per year)

Entry Requirements

Allergy/immunology is a subspecialty of internal medicine. It takes many years of education and training to become an ALLERGIST/immunologist. It takes four years of undergraduate school, four years of medical school, and then requires a three-year residency in internal medicine or pediatrics, followed by a two-year fellowship in allergy-immunology. Acceptance to medical school is very competitive.