Courtesy of KAATSU Global, Huntington Beach, California.
David Alleva, Ph.D. swam competitively as a child and teenager in Virginia. As one of the top high school swimmers in America, he then went on to represent Indiana University at the NCAA level while majoring in biology and training under Hall of Fame coach Doc Counsilman. He culminated his swimming career on the professional marathon swimming circuit while obtaining his Ph.D. in immunology.
Alleva had 12 different research papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals during his Ph.D. candidacy, a highly unusual achievement. Incredibly he studied and learned while winning some highly competitive professional marathon races including the 1989 36.2 km Atlantic City Swim Around the Island around Absecon Island, New Jersey in 8 hours 5 minutes and the 1990 36 km Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in 6 hours 57 minutes at the age of 26.
Ultimately, Dr. Alleva was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Swimmer in its Class of 1992.
Over the next 30 years, Dr. Alleva went on to become a scientific leader in drug discovery and the development of immunotherapeutics and vaccines in several biopharmaceutical companies. He has published over 30 research articles in peer-reviewed journals. He developed one of the first antigen-specific immunotherapeutic clinical candidates for Type 1 diabetes and is currently the Executive Director of immunotherapeutics at Akston Biosciences. In today’s WOWSA Live interview with Steven Munatones, Dr. Alleva summed up the lifelong benefits of interval training by competitive swimmers and collegiate swimmers in a uniquely profound way.
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