Dr. Caroline Sokol is a practicing allergist and principal investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her laboratory investigates the neuroimmune circuits that govern allergen sensing, allergic immune initiation, and itch. 

Throughout her career, Dr. Sokol has made several seminal contributions to the field, including defining the enzymatic activity of cysteine protease allergens as a driver of Type 2 immunity, establishing a role for basophils in Th2 polarization, and identifying CCR8 as essential for the migration of allergic-skewing dendritic cells into lymph nodes—discoveries made during her graduate and postdoctoral training. More recently, her lab has demonstrated that sensory neurons are primary sensors of protease allergens and play a central role in activating dendritic cells and initiating allergic immunity. Her team also uncovered a novel neuroimmune circuit in which IL-3-producing γδ T cells prime IL-3 receptor-expressing sensory neurons to respond to minimal allergen exposure, linking microbial and environmental cues to allergic sensitization. Ongoing work explores how sensory neurons detect and respond to allergens, thereby promoting allergic diseases.

In addition to her research, Dr. Sokol serves as Associate Program Director for the Physician-Scientist Training Program in the Internal Medicine Residency at MGH, where she mentors the next generation of physician-scientists.