Feature Story

Building a Food Allergy Community for Kids Through Peer Mentorship

Michael Pistiner, MD, MMSc, discusses the success of the Food Allergy Buddies Program

Seven years ago, Michael Pistiner, MD, MMSc, took a simple idea—let kids with food allergies learn from other kids who understand what they’re going through—and grew it into a program where teenagers become teachers, younger children find role models and families build a community together.

Michael Pistiner, MD, MMSc

He was a Fellow-in-Training (FIT) when his son had his first allergic reaction to food. “Advocacy and community education became really important to me after that. I was very invested in the allergy community in my community, as a dad and as a pediatric allergist,” he said.

Working with children and teenagers, he began to see the potential impact that peer mentorship could have on his patients. “Originally, I was basing the idea off my son, who wasn’t initially interested in being around other teenagers with food allergies but was interested in teaching little kids and being a role model. By having older kids be mentors, I thought we could support younger kids while reinforcing food allergy education in teenagers,” Dr. Pistiner said.

It became the inspiration for the Food Allergy Buddies Program that he launched at Mass General Brigham for Children. At the heart of the program are teams of “Bigs,” “Middles” and “Littles”—high school mentors, middle school mentors-in-training and elementary-age mentees who stay together throughout the year.

Participants of all ages during one of the Food Allergy Buddies events.

The events are designed to build friendships, teach food allergy management through gamification and help the participants build confidence. The program holds four events each year, beginning with the new school year, and Bigs and Middles take the lead during activities while staff deliberately step back. The approach gives older participants responsibility for teaching food allergy management while reinforcing their own skills and confidence.

While the Bigs run the activities, the families of Littles and Middles stick around to watch and participate in programming with the staff. “This is to help parents connect with other parents while the kids build their own communities. Staff explains the skills the kids are learning and how parents can support their kids and keep the learning going when they go home,” Dr. Pistiner said.

Food Allergy Buddies takes a serious subject like food allergy education and makes it fun to learn about. “One game we have, “Finding Food for Friends” has the kids pretend to host a party and invite a friend to attend who has food allergies,” Dr. Pistiner explained. “We have fake food printed with labels and the kids run around the park to find foods they can feed to their friend. They put food in their shopping bag if it is safe to serve or return it to the register if not.”

The events also usually feature a creative activity, such as making a team poster and a team cheer. “We have a lot of team building activities intermixed with the skill building activities to encourage the kids to build friendships and community,” Dr. Pistiner added.

Participants enjoying the “Finding Food for Friends” game.

One event Dr. Pistiner highlighted takes place at The Museum of Science, where the kids create an exhibit that teaches people about food allergies. “The first time we did it the kids were using paper and markers to create posters they hung on the walls. Organically they began giving what was essentially an abstract presentation to the parents who were rotating between the ‘exhibits.’ We formalized the presenting piece and now will incorporate it moving forward,” he said.

The program has been a huge success. “We’ve heard from participating Bigs that they really enjoy taking care of the younger kids, and that it’s also helpful for the big kids who themselves have been a little anxious, because mentoring makes them more confident,” Dr. Pistiner said. “Littles have reported that being around so many other kids with food allergies who get it is really encouraging. Parents of Littles especially find comfort seeing the big kids who are thriving with their food allergies.”

The program is continuing to grow and expand. They’re partnering with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to create a digital version of the program that can be used nationally. They are also collaborating with Children’s National Allergy and Immunology to help them start their own program in the Washington, DC area, in addition to studying the impact of the program in Boston.

The Food Allergy Buddies Program is also exploring how to expand the program into school districts and has already had a pilot program in Reading Public Schools.

“We’ve been lucky to have learned what works well and what could be better, which helps us with future planning and collaboration,” Dr. Pistiner said. “For example, we have an ice skating event where initially we had parents of Littles go on the ice with them, but observed the Bigs and Middles didn’t have a large role. The next year we said no parents were allowed on the ice. Many of the kids had never skated, but the teams worked together to help every kid learn how to skate. We now use this event to showcase that sometimes you’ll face challenges and need to learn new things, and not only is it possible but it can also be fun, especially when we take care of each other and work as a team.”

For Dr. Pistiner, the Food Allergy Buddies Program is some of the most meaningful work he’s ever done. “The staff, which is mostly made of volunteers, many with food allergies, have shared the positive impact of their own involvement in the program. Being a part of this growing community has been an honor and privilege. Our first event of the 2026-2027 year is on October 11th, and I can’t wait to watch the participants learn, make new friends and gain confidence in navigating life with food allergies.”