Actress Julie Bowen, awarded her second Emmy Sunday for her role in the hit TV comedy “Modern Family,” starts a more serious role today: raising awareness about life-threatening childhood allergies.

The two-time best supporting actress in a comedy series and mother of three knows firsthand about potentially fatal allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). Her oldest son, Oliver Phillips, was 2 years old when he developed anaphylaxis in reaction to the double-whammy exposure of a bee sting coupled with a bit of peanut butter.

Bowen now is spearheading the nationwide awareness campaign with the help of Mylan, the pharmaceutical company that makes an epinephrine-loaded delivery device called the EpiPen.

“The goal is education,” said Bowen. “We, as parents, can’t always be with our children all day, every day. So we want the people around them to be educated.”

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English: Julie Bowen at the eTalk Festival Party, during the Toronto International Film Festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)