The Burghwood Clinic was founded by Dr. John Mansfield and originally opened its doors in May 1982, since when it has been involved in both research and the practical applications of the rapidly evolving fields of Allergy, Environmental and Nutritional medicine.

Dr Shideh Pouria
Medical Director
Dr Shideh Pouria, MBBS BSc MRCP (UK) PhD has had over 16 years of experience in general and specialist medicine within the NHS. Having qualified in 1991 from King’s College Hospital in London, she has worked in a number of NHS and academic posts culminating in a consultant post in renal medicine at Guy’s Hospital in 2004 and a PhD in immunology in 2005. She has had a longstanding interest in the role of nutrition and environmental factors in the development of chronic medical conditions of uncertain aetiology. In this context, she became interested in the work of the British Society for Ecological Medicine (BSEM) and associated practices such as the Burghwood Clinic.

She has been a regular attendee at the BSEM bi-annual scientific meetings and training modules since 2005. She joined the BSEM in 2006 and has been seeing patients with Dr Mansfield at the Burghwood Clinic regularly since then.

Dr Pouria will be continuing with the services that have been offered under the leadership of Dr Mansfield with a vision for expanding the remit of this approach to other conditions as well as embracing well-established techniques used in other environmental and integrative medical practices. At the heart of this vision is an integrative and individualised approach to the health of our patients based on sound clinical and scientific evidence.

Dr John Mansfield
Founder
Dr. John Mansfield gained his medical degree at Guy's Hospital, London, and has worked in both the UK and the USA. He has been working in this subject since 1976 when he was one of the three original British pioneers. In 1978 he was a founder member of the British Society for Allergy and Environmental Medicine and became President of that society from 1992 - 1995.

In 1986 his book 'The Migraine Revolution' was published. This was available for about ten years and was printed in four other languages, but is currently out of print.

'Arthritis: The Allergy Connection' was first published in 1990 and revised and updated 1995. At this time the title was changed to 'Arthritis - Allergy, Nutrition and the Environment'

In October 1997 'The Asthma Epidemic' by Dr Mansfield was published, and is available from the clinic

In 1986 we completed two separate clinical trials in conjunction with the Department of Rheumatology at Epsom District Hospital. In these studies the relationship of food sensitivity to classical rheumatoid arthritis was explored. The results of the second trial were published in the Lancet on the 1st February 1986 entitled 'Placebo Controlled Blind Study of Dietary Manipulation Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis'. This study showed that 33 out of 44 patients with rheumatoid arthritis improved dramatically with the simple expedient of an elimination diet.

In December 1998 we had a study published in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine entitled 'Treatment of Equine Allergic Diseases with Allergy Neutralization - A Field Study'. This was the first major study anywhere in the world of neutralization in an animal model, useful as it is difficult to imagine a placebo response in a horse. It showed very major improvements, often a complete recovery, in 92% of 13 horses with urticaria and 87% of 23 horses with COPD (equine asthma).