Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, Quello
Michael R. Menachof, MD
Board-certified otolaryngologist and Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy
I start from the assumption that patients are smart people looking for answers to complicated questions.
Thirty-five years in, I still believe the same thing. Tell people the truth, including when the right answer is a pharmacy spray, a tablet, shots or another doctor, and they'll make good choices.
Page last updated
Why did Dr. Menachof switch from allergy shots to drops?
Dr. Menachof prescribed allergy shots for the first twelve years of his practice and was never dissatisfied with how well they worked. What concerned him was how few patients finished a full treatment course.
In 2003 he reviewed his own patients' records and found that fewer than one in five were completing the four-year course his practice recommended.
That same year he learned about sublingual immunotherapy from an experienced practice in Wisconsin and offered drops alongside shots for three years among his patients. In 2006 he made allergy drops his primary immunotherapy recommendation.
What I felt when I saw those numbers was embarrassment. I had been strongly recommending a four-year course to people, and in my practice, fewer than one in five were getting through it. Shots work if you finish them. That was never my complaint. But I couldn't point to anything else in my practice where I was making a strong recommendation that most of my patients wouldn't be able to carry out. That's what bothered me. Not that the treatment was failing, but that I was asking for something most people couldn't do, and I hadn't known it until I looked.
- 1991 Begins practice as a licensed ear, nose and throat physician in Northern Virginia
- 1992 Joins a Denver-based ENT practice specializing in nose, sinus and allergy care
- 2000 Cofounds Advanced Ear, Nose & Throat, PC in Greenwood Village, Colorado
- 2003 Reviews his patients' shot completion and adds allergy drops
- 2006 Makes allergy drops his primary immunotherapy recommendation
- 2022 Launches Quello as co-founder and Chief Medical Officer
Articles by Dr. Menachof
6 articles in 2 categories · newest
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Your nose explained
What's behind your symptoms, from stuffy noses and sinus trouble to sleep and smell.
4 articles
How to Treat a Chronic Stuffy Nose
Published
Can Allergies Go Away Over Time?
Published
Are Sinus Infections Contagious?
Published
Choosing a treatment
Your options laid out, from the pharmacy shelf to immunotherapy, with the trade-offs.
2 articles
Can Allergies Make You Tired? What You Need to Know About Allergy Fatigue
Published
Seasonal Allergy Trends: What Data Tells Us
Seasonal allergies can be uncomfortable and just downright annoying. Learn more about what affects our seasonal allergies and the best ways to treat them.
Published
Every article on this page is written by Dr. Menachof. The reviewed date is the last time an article was checked against current evidence. How we write about evidence
How does Dr. Menachof write about evidence?
Everything published here is written or reviewed by Dr. Menachof. Dr. Menachof writes these articles with the help of an AI system, and checks every claim against its source before it publishes. How these articles get made explains what that looks like. When we make a claim about a treatment, we tell you what kind of evidence sits behind it: a large randomized trial, a single small study, a professional guideline, or twenty years of watching patients in our own practice. Those are not the same thing, and we label them differently. Where the evidence is thin, we say so. Where we have made a judgment call inside a range the guidelines leave open, we say that too and explain how we got there. We would rather you trust the parts that are solid than believe all of it equally.
- Large randomized trial
- Many patients, randomly assigned and followed over time. When a claim rests on a trial like this, we say so and link to it.
- Single small study
- One study, often with few patients or no comparison group. We call these findings early and say what they can and cannot show.
- Professional guideline
- Advice from a medical society, based on its review of the research. We name the society and the year the guideline was issued.
- Clinical experience
- What Dr. Menachof has seen in his own practice since 2003. It comes from one practice without a comparison group, so we label it as experience, not research.
How review works
Dr. Menachof writes or reviews every article before it publishes, and reviews each one again at least every 12 months. A new guideline or a major study moves that review up. The reviewed date on each article shows the last time he checked it. Articles written by someone else carry the line "Medically reviewed by Michael R. Menachof, MD, board-certified otolaryngologist and Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy".
Corrections
If you spot an error, email info@goquello.com and we will look into it within 5 business days. When we correct an article, a note at the bottom says what changed and when.
Disclosure
Disclosure: I co-founded Quello, and Quello sells the treatment described here. I've written this to explain the evidence as I understand it, including where it's limited.
Who is Dr. Michael Menachof?
Michael R. Menachof, MD, is a board-certified otolaryngologist (ENT) and allergy physician based in Colorado. Dr. Menachof is the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Quello, a telemedicine allergy practice that treats patients at home with allergy drops. He has practiced otolaryngology and otolaryngic allergy since 1991, treating allergy with allergy shots for his first twelve years. Dr. Menachof began prescribing sublingual immunotherapy, allergy drops taken under the tongue, in 2003, and it has been his primary immunotherapy recommendation since 2006. Dr. Menachof's practice has treated more than 15,000 patients with allergy drops. He is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy and of the American College of Surgeons. He received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, completed his residency at the UCSF hospitals, and served as an associate clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine from 1993 to 2024.
Where did Dr. Menachof practice before Quello?
Before Quello, Dr. Menachof saw patients in person at Advanced ENT & Allergy Center in Greenwood Village, Colorado, the practice name of Advanced Ear, Nose & Throat, PC, which he cofounded in 2000. It was there, in 2003, that he reviewed his patients' records and began offering allergy drops alongside shots. Quello is that same practice, Advanced Ear, Nose & Throat, PC, now caring for patients at home.
What are Dr. Menachof’s credentials?
- Medical degree
- MD, University of California, San Francisco. Alpha Omega Alpha
- Residency
- Otolaryngology–head and neck surgery, UCSF hospitals, 1985 to 1991
- Undergraduate
- BA in economics with honors, University of California, Berkeley
- Board certification
- American Board of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
- Fellowships
- Fellow, American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy. Fellow, American College of Surgeons
- Academic appointment
- Associate clinical professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 1993 to 2024
- Treating allergy since
- 1991
- Allergy shots
- 1991 to 2006
- Allergy drops
- Treating patients since 2003, his primary recommendation since 2006
- Patients treated with drops
- More than 15,000
- Publications
- Peer-reviewed otolaryngology literature since 1989
- Role at Quello
- Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer. Quello launched in 2022
Dr. Menachof is board-certified in otolaryngology–head and neck surgery by the American Board of Otolaryngology, a certification whose examined areas include allergy. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy, a credential open only to board-certified otolaryngologists and awarded after written and oral examinations in allergy and a peer interview.
Check these facts elsewhere
Start with a plan that fits your life
The first step is knowing what you’re allergic to.
Start with a plan that fits your life
The first step is knowing what you’re allergic to.