The 1950s, the start of the baby boom, Elvis, and NASA. The 1950s also marked the beginning of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the premier professional organization for hepatology. And in a little doctor's lounge in Chicago's Cook County Hospital, a small group of doctors held the first ASLD meeting, costing $15 to attend, and had a whopping 75 attendees. Within four years, the number of attendees doubled. ASLD became AASLD, and the decades that followed saw many advancements and historical achievements in the world of hepatology. In the 1960s and 70s, AASLD members were at the forefront of important advancements with hepatitis A and B, and the first successful liver transplant, as well as liver education, including the first postgraduate course, and many important publications. In the 1980s and 90s, AASLD continued to grow, and we saw even more progress in the field, and amazing publications like Hepatology, Liver Transplantation, and AASLD's First Practice Guidelines were introduced. In the 2000s and 2010s, AASLD officially brands the liver meeting, and takes off with over 10,000 attendees annually. AASLD became bigger and better than ever. Journals, foundations, advocacy, guidelines, global collaborations, and new treatments only touch the tip of the iceberg. For over 70 years, AASLD has brought the global hepatology community together to share knowledge and best practices and move us closer to a world free of liver disease. We continue that rich tradition today as we move into the next 70 years. Welcome to the Liver Meeting Digital Experience. Introducing your 2020 AASLD President, Dr. Georgie Bezeja. I am Georgie Bezeja, Pediatric Hepatologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and President of the AASLD. On behalf of the Governing Board, I welcome you all to the Liver Meeting. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to our members, participants, trainees, and colleagues from our sister societies. A heartfelt welcome to patients and patient representatives who now have access to the all-inclusive liver-learning environment that is typical of the Liver Meeting. At AASLD, we pride ourselves in being the conveners of the world's top minds in hepatology, and the Liver Meeting has been the place where experts share advances in science and practice of hepatology. The meeting is where we meet our colleagues, where we build friendships, and where we establish collaborations. This year, the coronavirus pandemic prevents us from meeting in person, but here we are meeting virtually. One cannot minimize the impact of COVID-19 devastating economies across the globe, taking the lives of those we love, straining the fabric of our healthcare system. As an association, we worked with federal agencies to raise awareness of the potential vulnerability of patients with liver disease to severe COVID-19, of the need of PPE to ensure safe clinical practice, and of the benefits non-U.S. investigators and clinicians bring to our position of scientific leadership as a nation. The pandemic has made visible long-ignored social and racial injustices and healthcare disparities. Inclusion and diversity are not only intrinsically valuable, but also critical to how we design the future of the SLD and of the field. We have followed these principles and renewed our commitment going forward. For instance, the Inclusion and Diversity Committee will now collaborate with the Nomination Committee and with the Scientific Program Committee to make sure that there is diversity in the selection of members for participation in educational programming and in the leadership of our association. We have also introduced a new award for our members who want to attend the annual meeting of the Network for Minority Research Investigators. That's a network that is sponsored by the NIDDK. I invite you to learn more about this and other steps we will be taking to address disparities in our White Paper to be published in an upcoming issue of Hepatology. More than ever, we are stronger when we work together. We are grateful for the collaborative commitment of our sister societies and global partners. With them, we redesigned educational programs and digital platforms. We have held webinars on the impact of COVID-19 on liver disease, clinical practice, education, and research. We have held a series of webinars on several topics highly relevant to the science and practice of hepatology. It is your creativity and your resilience that have kept the field vibrant, as shown by the submission of over 2,000 abstracts being presented at this meeting. Our 7,000 members are our eyes and our ears, telling us what they need and helping drive progress toward our goal of preventing and curing liver disease. As in previous meetings, their work will kick off the first day with an outstanding SIG program. Take a look at the education menu with many scientific and clinical sessions. There are programs for emerging liver scholars, for hepatology associates, and for patients. There are virtual networking rooms. There is time with exhibitors and sponsors. Check out the liver games, earn badges, and win prizes as you navigate through the different sessions, exhibits, posters, and lounges. Indeed, there is something for everyone. Putting together our first virtual liver meeting and all the programs for the year during these challenging times has been possible by the medication of many in the association. To start, a special thank you to the co-chairs of the Scientific Program Committee, Dr. Ray Chung and Dr. Meena Bansal, and to each one of the committee members. Another special thank you to our CEO, Matthew Duva, and to all our staff and their leaders such as Denise Seas, Stephanie Grimsby, Stephanie Graham, Katie Duggan, Betty-Ann Preston, Caroline Lauren, and Nola Gruneisen. They spent countless hours bringing this all together so that you can learn and have fun. Many of our members are inspiring clinical investigative leaders with a remarkable record of contribution to the association and to the field. Therefore, this year we recognize three of them with distinguished awards, Drs. Russell Wiesner, Michael Lucey, and Don Jensen. For the first time, we celebrate patient advocacy and a new distinguished award to be given to the Hepatitis B Foundation, here represented by its founders, Dr. Timothy Block and Nurse Joan Block. I invite you to join me to review their accomplishments and present the awards during our distinguished award presentation. There are also several reasons that make 2020 a special year. To start, this is the year of the nurse, our clinical partners that provide the best care for children and adults with liver disease. We celebrate Drs. Harvey Alter, Michael Horton, and Charles Rice. Their discoveries and pinnacle achievements paved the way to the lower transmission of hepatitis C virus worldwide and now make a future without hepatitis C disease within reach. This year we also celebrate the 70th anniversary of our AASLD. Our roots date back to a meeting of colleagues interested in liver pathobiology in 1948 at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Two years later, the ASLD was founded in 1950 and then became the home of a lineup of academic brilliance and visionary leadership that allowed the fledgling specialty to blossom into the vibrant field that it is today. Thanks to the relentless pursuit of knowledge and discovery, hepatologists have brought hope to millions across the globe. Today, liver transplantation is a standard practice that offers care with quality of life. Today, we use vaccines to prevent hepatitis B virus infection. We know how genes cause liver disease in children and adults. We use molecular imaging and endoscopic technology so that we can diagnose, stage disease, and customize care. We are now poised to build upon these historical accomplishments. For the next 70 years, we dare to envision a future with a cure for hepatitis B and the elimination of hypervital hepatitis, with effective treatments for liver cancer, with gene therapy for metabolic diseases, and with strategies to block and reverse fibrosis. We shall integrate in omics technologies and clinical data, using computer analytics to customize care, improve safety, and decrease cost. We shall build a community that strives to improve the lives of those we touch and erase healthcare disparities. 2020 is also the year of the 70th anniversary of the NIDDK, an institute that has catalyzed discovery and applied research, brought scientists together, and fueled advances in hepatology. So this is only fitting that we invite Dr. Griffin Rogers, the Director of the NIDDK, to officially kick off our annual meeting by delivering the President's Choice Lecture. Dr. Rogers is a renowned researcher in sickle cell disease, whose research in the 1990s uncovered the first effective treatment that eased the burden of pain and suffering from those affected by sickle cell disease. As an institute director, he has sponsored a broad portfolio of liver disease research and is now leading a new strategic plan for the institute. Please join me in giving Dr. Rogers a warm welcome to the liver meeting. I want to offer sincere thanks to Dr. Bezzera and the rest of AASLB for inviting me to give the President's Choice Lecture at this year's liver meeting. I serve as the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, or NIDDK, which is part of NIH. I have nothing to disclose. This year, the NIDDK is truly honored to share its 70th anniversary with the AASLB. NIDDK appreciates its longstanding, productive partnership with AASLB, and this includes the participation of your President, Dr. Bezzera, on our Board of Scientific Counselors, as well as past AASLB Presidents and grantees who have served on our NIDDK Advisory Council and our strategic planning efforts. Many former AASLB Presidents were also members of the NIDDK's Intramural Liver Disease Branch, including Drs. Paul Burke, Jay Hoffnagle, Adrian DiPacelli, Jake Liang, John Berling, and Michael Fried. NIDDK staff regularly interact with AASLB leaders and members. Another wonderful reason to celebrate this year is the recent awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to a group of liver researchers for their work on the discovery of hepatitis C virus, supported in part by the NIDDK and others at NIH. Here you see Dr. Harvey Alter from the NIH Clinical Center, with whom our NIDDK Intramural Researchers have closely collaborated over the years, and Dr. Charles Rice of Rockefeller University, a past NIDDK grantee who, together with their colleague, Dr. Michael Houghton, were part of this well-deserving group who received this year's prize. This groundbreaking research provided the foundation for later breakthroughs, like the highly effective antiviral treatments for hepatitis C. A member of the Nobel Committee commented that it's hard to find something that is of such benefit to mankind as what we're awarding this year, and noted that this discovery has led to improvements for millions of people around the world. Researchers in the NIDDK's liver disease branch and others at NIH are building upon their legacy by pursuing new ways to treat and prevent hepatitis C. Indeed, the NIDDK has a long tradition of supporting investigators at the forefront of liver disease research, such as the late Dr. Thomas Starsell, the father of liver transplantation, who was our longest continuously funded R01 grantee. Through the years, the NIDDK has sponsored many basic and clinical studies on liver diseases, including studies of all five forms of viral hepatitis, particularly hepatitis B and C, acute liver failure, childhood liver diseases, such as biliary atresia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, drug-induced liver disease, and liver transplantation. Many of these clinical studies were conducted in both adults and children, such as those on drug-induced liver injury, acute liver failure, hepatitis B and C, NASH, and liver transplantation. These efforts have resulted in countless advances, including the Nobel Prize-winning work I mentioned earlier on hepatitis C, as well as improving long-term outcome of liver donor liver transplantation, identifying risk factors and new treatments for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and identifying genetic factors to enable early diagnosis and treatment of biliary atresia. Breakthroughs in some of NIDDK's other mission areas, such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease, also have broader implications for liver health. Within NIH, we collaborate with the National Library of Medicine on LiverTox, a resource on liver injury from drugs and supplements for physicians, patients, and researchers. And we have come together frequently with the wider research community to strategize about future liver research opportunities through NIH consensus conferences, workshops, and the Trans-NIH Action Plan for liver disease research. Currently, NIDDK is engaging in an institute-wide strategic planning process that is relying on input from stakeholders such as the liver research community. And I'll provide more details on that activity and how to participate towards the end of my talk. NIDDK is certainly not alone at NIH in support of liver research. Together with our colleagues in the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and others at NIH, we work together to coordinate research on liver health and disease in its many forms. And I would encourage you to Zoom in during a Sunday session of this meeting for a presentation by my colleague, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs the Allergy and Infectious Disease Institute as part of a symposium on COVID-19 and the liver. Turning now to current research opportunities that NIDDK supports, true to our guiding principles on fostering a strong and inclusive scientific workforce, we support a more generous pay line for early-stage investigators, sponsor workshops for K awardees and for first R01 grantees. We also sponsor several programs and meetings to support underserved minority researchers at various stages of career development. This year, the NIDDK released funding opportunities to establish a new liver cirrhosis network to support future studies in this important area. I encourage any who are interested in applying to these announcements to view the session later today from 12 to 1 p.m. on new funding opportunities in liver disease from NIDDK. That will feature the RFAs on the cirrhosis network and special funding announcements focusing on diversity and minority health and COVID-19. NIDDK is also participating in initiatives aimed at eliminating hepatitis B and C, including participation in the HHS National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan. Also related to liver research, the NIDDK participated in the development of a new NIH-wide nutrition plan released earlier this year, and in the development of a Precision Nutrition NIH Common Fund Initiative and Workshop on this topic that is scheduled for next January. Of course, looming large over the current research climate is the COVID-19 pandemic. NIDDK is committed to finding ways to lessen the effects of COVID-19 on our research community while seeking to understand causes of health disparities or diseases within our mission. I welcome you to visit our website to find out more information on funding opportunities available from NIDDK and the broader NIH effort related to COVID-19, and once again, encourage you to check out Dr. Fauci's talk on this topic at this meeting. In addition to funding announcements I mentioned, NIDDK sponsors many other research funding opportunities, and the majority of the research we support is through unsolicited R01 awards. So even if you don't see your particular area of interest mentioned in a funding announcement, I would encourage you to consider applying and contact program staff in our Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, many of whom are participating in other sessions of this virtual meeting. While these are certainly challenging times as NIDDK celebrates its and AASLD's 70th anniversary of shared progress on liver disease research, we look forward toward a future made brighter through new scientific achievements. This year, we embarked on a development of a five-year NIDDK strategic plan to develop a broad vision for accelerating research on diseases and conditions across NIDDK's mission, including liver disease. NIDDK welcomes broad stakeholder input on that plan, which will be led by a working group of council with members of our advisory council and other outside experts. AASLD's interests are well represented on this group with involvement from some of your members. Drs. Jackie Mayer and Don Rocky are external members of the working group, and we welcome additional input from all corners of AASLD's membership as we build on the past 70 years of progress to chart the next five years of scientific advancement. I'll close my talk with some key takeaway messages shown here. And thank you for this opportunity to help kick off the first all-digital version of the liver meeting by sharing with you some of the progress and current programs that NIDDK supports in liver disease research. For more information on NIDDK, I invite you to visit the NIDDK's website, or you can find us on Twitter and on Facebook. Thank you. Thanks again.

American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

AASLD

Liver Meeting

hepatology

COVID-19

NIDDK partnership