Miklos Z. Molnar

Dr. Miklos Z. Molnar is an Hungarian-American Transplant Nephrologist and an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN. He is also affiliated with James D. Eason Transplant Institute in Methodist University Hospital, also in Memphis. Dr. Molnar serves as Director of AST Transplant Nephrology Program at James D. Eason Transplant Institute in Methodist University Hospital.

Dr. Molnar obtained his MD and PhD from Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. He received additional medical training in Hungary and board certified in internal medicine, nephrology and transplant medicine in Europe. Dr Molnar immigrated to US in 2010, spent two years as post-doc fellow at Harbor UCLA, and obtained his US residency and transplant nephrology fellowship at University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee and nephrology fellowship at University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Dr. Molnar is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology.

Dr. Molnar is an author of more than 240 articles in a field of nephrology and transplant medicine. He serves as editorial board member in several journals, and current Associate Editor in Transplant International. He also served as PI in a recent R21 grant.

Francesco Negro

Francesco Negro is Professor at the Departments of Medicine and of Pathology and Immunology of the University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland. He obtained his Medical Degree in 1982 at the University of Torino, Italy, where he also completed his postgraduate education in Gastroenterology. He was Visiting Scientist and then Assistant Professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Rockville, MD, USA from 1986 to 1989, and Guest Researcher at the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA in 1989.

After having spent some time back in Torino, he joined the University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, in 1994. He was appointed Full Professor of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva in 2014. His research interests focus on viral hepatitis, especially on the pathogenesis of metabolic alterations induced by the hepatitis C virus, i.e. steatosis and insulin resistance. More recently, he has participated into numerous collaborative works on epidemiology and public health issues related to viral hepatitis.

He has participated in several clinical trials in acute and chronic HCV, authoring or co-authoring more than 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts in the field of hepatology. After serving as Educational Councilor within the Governing Board of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), he is currently Treasurer of EASL for the period 2019-2024. He is also chairing the Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort Study, and is member of the updating panels of the clinical practice guidelines for HCV of the EASL and of the World Health Organisation.

Harrys A. Torres

Harrys A. Torres, MD, FACP, FIDSA, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee Health and an Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He is board-certified in internal medicine, and infectious disease, with additional accreditations on HIV/AIDS and Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He is the founder and director of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) clinic at MD Anderson, the first established clinic in the US, and likely in the world, devoted to managing HCV in cancer patients.

Dr. Torres is a member of numerous national committees for professional societies such as the Infectious Diseases Society of America, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), European Association for the Study of the Liver and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He is the secretary of the AASLD Special Interest Group on HCV and the principal investigator for multiple research grants. His research interest is to facilitate translational research in the prevention, detection, and treatment of HCV in patients with cancer and hematopoietic cell transplantation. His work addressed the fact that HCV is a neglected condition in cancer patients. Additionally, he has discovered new associations between HCV and other cancers (e.g. Head and Neck cancers). He has also documented the effectiveness, benefits, and safety of antiviral therapy in HCV-patients with cancer including those with hepatocellular carcinoma and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Dr. Torres is co-author of more than 100 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, including CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Gastroenterology, HEPATOLOGY, Journal of Hepatology, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Lancet Haematology, American Journal of Gastroenterology, Leukemia, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Blood, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, Cancer, Liver International, and Journal of Viral Hepatitis with many of his publications accompanied by editorials. He has presented almost 130 abstracts in international meetings and written 8 book chapters. His work on HCV has been awarded multiple times by the AASLD and American Society of Clinical Oncology among others. Dr. Torres lectures widely nationally and internationally on HCV in cancer patients and trains infectious diseases and gastroenterology fellows in the diagnosis and management of HCV in this special patient population. By providing evidence and innovative approaches, his body of work has changed the standard of care for HCV-infected cancer patients.

Brian Pearlman (Moderator)

Brian L. Pearlman, MD is Medical Director for Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center’s Center for Hepatitis C in Atlanta Georgia. He is also Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia and Professor of Medicine at Emory School of Medicine. Dr. Pearlman completed his medical degree at the University of Miami, Florida and his post-graduate training included both Diagnostic Radiology at University of Texas-Southwestern and Internal Medicine at Baylor University-Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Pearlman is Faculty for the American College of Physicians (FACP), Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD), and members of the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and the American Gastroenterological Association. He sat on the Board of Directors for The American Liver Foundation’s Southeast Chapter. Dr. Pearlman is widely published in leading journals such as The Lancet, Gastroenterology, HEPATOLOGY, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, The Lancet Infectious Disease, Clinical Infectious Diseases and The American Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Pearlman is active in both patient care and in teaching physicians. He has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards, and also an active investigator in multiple hepatitis C-related trials, some of which are in collaboration with the CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis.

Lisa Catalli

Lisa Catalli is a Nurse Practitioner at the University of California, San Francisco’s Viral Hepatitis Center and Liver Transplant Clinic. She earned her Master’s Degree from UCSF School of Nursing in 1995 and has been working in the field of Hepatology since 2010. She has been treating HCV since the dawn of direct-acting antiviral therapy, and served as a co-investigator in several multi-center clinical trials. Her expertise in HCV treatment has led to multiple educational and leadership activities in HCV elimination. She has worked to disseminate knowledge about HCV through mentoring students and didactic presentations and workshops. She is a key clinical faculty in the UCSF Project ECHO program which uses multi-point video conferencing to build knowledge-sharing networks with community providers to build the capacity for care of HCV patients throughout California.

She is also part of an interdisciplinary team to improve access and linkage to HCV care through a creative, innovative model of mobile liver care clinic (UCSF DeLiver Care) that is co-localized at syringe exchange/medically assisted treatment centers for vulnerable populations. She has been a Hepatology Associates member of AASLD for 10 years with leadership roles in the HCV SIG and the Hepatology Associates Committee, serving on committees for the planning of AASLD educational programs, moderating educational sessions, and selecting NP/PA fellowship awards.

Natarajan Ravendhran

Dr. Ravendhran is a hepatologist in Baltimore, Maryland. He is trained in hepatology by Dr. Schiff at University of Miami. He is board-certified in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. He is a medical director for the research department in Digestive Disease Associates in Baltimore. He holds faculty position at Johns Hopkins University as a clinical assistant professor in the department of medicine. He is a Fellow of American Association for Study of Liver Diseases.

He is actively involved in clinical trials, teaching and having a busy clinical practice. He has conducted more than 100 clinical trials in hepatology regarding chronic hepatitis C treatment, hepatitis B treatment and currently involved in many clinical trials with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. He has published in Journal of Hepatology, Journal of American College of Gastroenterology, and New England Journal of Medicine.

Brian Pearlman (Moderator)

Brian L. Pearlman, MD is Medical Director for Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center’s Center for Hepatitis C in Atlanta Georgia. He is also Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia and Professor of Medicine at Emory School of Medicine. Dr. Pearlman completed his medical degree at the University of Miami, Florida and his post-graduate training included both Diagnostic Radiology at University of Texas-Southwestern and Internal Medicine at Baylor University-Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Pearlman is Faculty for the American College of Physicians (FACP), Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD), and members of the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and the American Gastroenterological Association. He sat on the Board of Directors for The American Liver Foundation’s Southeast Chapter. Dr. Pearlman is widely published in leading journals such as The Lancet, Gastroenterology, HEPATOLOGY, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, The Lancet Infectious Disease, Clinical Infectious Diseases and The American Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Pearlman is active in both patient care and in teaching physicians. He has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards, and also an active investigator in multiple hepatitis C-related trials, some of which are in collaboration with the CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis.

Scott W. Biggins (Moderator)

Dr. Scott W. Biggins is Chief of Hepatology, Director of the Liver Care Line for UW Medicine, and Director of the Center for Liver Investigation Fostering Discovery (C-LIFE) at the University of Washington. Dr. Biggins is a national recognized clinician and researcher in the field of Hepatology. He received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering (bioengineering option) from the University of California, Los Angeles (1994) and his medical degree from the University of Southern California (1999). He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University (2002) and his Gastroenterology fellowship training at the University of California, San Francisco (2005). He was also awarded a Master’s degree in Clinical Research from the University of California, San Francisco (2006).

Dr. Biggins' clinical interests are the risk reduction and management of complications of end-stage liver disease, and the clinical evaluation and care of liver transplant candidates and recipients. He has been recognized as a fellow of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD), American Society of Transplantation (FAST), and American Gastroenterological Association (AGAF). He is Vice Chair of the AASLD Special Interest Group (SIG) for Portal Hypertension.

His research is focused on complications of portal hypertension, improving recipient and donor selection for liver transplantation and revising organ allocation algorithms in order to maximize patient outcomes. He has received research funding from the American Liver Foundation, National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He has published more than 75 papers in peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, HEPATOLOGY, and Liver Transplantation.

Elizabeth Verna (Moderator)

Dr. Elizabeth Verna is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation and Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases at Columbia University, where she practices as transplant hepatologist.

In addition, Dr. Verna has an active clinical research program in end-stage liver disease and liver transplantation and is the Director of Clinical Research for the Columbia University Transplant Clinical Research Center.

Juan G. Abraldes

Dr. Juan G. Abraldes is a Transplant Hepatologist, Professor and Director of the Liver Unit at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He gained his MD in 1995 from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and got his Board Certificate in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona (2000). He did a postdoctoral training at Yale University (2003–2004). He was a faculty member of the Liver Unit, at Hospital Clinic Barcelona, until 2013, when he moved to the University of Alberta.

He has published more than 200 papers on the pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of end-stage liver disease. He has co-authored the international Baveno guidelines for the management of portal hypertension in 2005, 2010 and 2015. He is the co-author of the American Association for the Liver Clinical Guidance for the management of varices and variceal bleeding in cirrhosis and was the chair of the AASLD Special Interest Group in Portal Hypertension between 2017 and 2018.

Florence Wong

Florence Wong, MD is a full professor at the University of Toronto and staff Hepatologist at the Toronto General Hospital, Ontario, Canada. She received her medical degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia and completed her postgraduate training in Australia and in Toronto, Canada. Apart from caring for a large population of patients with advanced liver cirrhosis, Dr. Wong has been active in research in the pathogenesis of portal hypertension, ascites formation, liver-kidney interaction, including the development of hepatorenal syndrome, and renal failure in cirrhosis for the past 28 years. She has received research funding from various funding agencies including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Liver Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

She has been the Secretary of the International Ascites Club, organizing two international meetings on the complications of ascites, she also held the position as the Chair of the Education Committee of the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver. Recently, she served as the Chair of the "Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure Special Interest Group" of the American Association for the Study of the Liver, and organizer of the Single Topic Symposium of Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure. Currently, she is the Deputy Editor of Liver Transplantation. She is also the recipient of the Gold Medal from the Canadian Liver Foundation and the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver for her contribution to academia in Hepatology.

She has published widely on the topics related to ascites, and renal dysfunction in cirrhosis. She has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications as well as contributing regular reviews, book chapters and editorials on similar topics. She is currently on the writing committee to write the guidelines for the management of refractory ascites for the American Association for the Study of the Liver. Most recently, she has been responsible for putting together a landmark international document defining renal failure in cirrhosis.

Mayur Brahmania (Moderator)

Dr. Mayur Brahmania is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Western University practicing in Hepatology and Transplant Hepatology. After training in general and transplant Hepatology at the Toronto General Hospital: Toronto Centre for Liver Disease he undertook a research fellowship and earned a Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA. He also holds advanced certification from the Centre for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (CQUIPS).

Dr. Brahmania has been involved with the Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) campaign as the Canadian Association for the Study of Liver Quality Lead. In this leadership role, he led the development of the 'top 5' list recommendations for Hepatology and his group is currently working to develop strategies to benchmark quality indicators for liver disease across Canada. 

Dr. Brahmania is the current chair of the Gastroenterology Quality Improvement and Innovation Committee at Western University and currently focuses his research interests around quality improvement initiatives to advance and standardize quality of care in patients living with liver disease; many of these leading to publications in peer reviewed journals and presentation. 

Rachel Sisodia

Rachel Sisodia, MD is a gynecologic oncologist specializing in the care of women with cancer.  Her area of excellence is Clinical Expertise/Innovation in Surgery and Patient Reported Outcomes. Currently, she spends time serving as Medical Director for the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization (MGPO) and Medical Director for Partners Healthcare, where she is the Physician Executive responsible for the implementation, management and strategy of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) within the Partners Enterprise. In 2014, she joined the faculty at MGH and HMS, where she provides clinical care, supervise trainees and conduct research on operative/ peri-operative care with a goal of improving surgical outcomes for women with gynecologic malignancy. In addition to her work at MGH and HMS, she also travels to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center four days a month, where she works in a largely underserved area. 

Dr. Sisodia has focused on developing best surgical practices in gynecologic oncology within her scope as a gynecologic oncologist. This work has resulted in peer reviewed publications on topics such as the role of hysterectomy in trophoblastic disease, the utility of the Surgical Apgar Score, debulking surgery for survival in ovarian cancer and risk factors for hospital readmission within 30 days of surgery.  She has presented this work on regional, national and international levels. This has taken the form of local and regional grand rounds, as well as multiple presentations of original research at the New England Association of Gynecologic Oncologists (NEAGO), where she won the 2012 award for Best Scientific Presentation. On a national scale her work has been presented at annual meetings for the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, Society for Gynecologic Investigation and the American Society for Clinical Oncology. She also spoken internationally on the evolving role of hysterectomy in the management of trophoblastic disease and have been instrumental in creating a monthly gynecologic oncology tumor board at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center where surgical and post-operative management is reviewed via an evidence-based approach, elevating the level of gynecologic cancer care in the community.    

Manisha Verma

Manisha Verma, MD, MPH, currently serves as the Director of Research at the Department of Digestive Diseases and Transplantation at Einstein Healthcare Network, Philadelphia, and as the Assistant Professor of Medicine, Research at Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Her program of research focuses on patient centered outcomes research (PCOR) within Hepatology and beyond.  She and her team received a 15 million research award from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute to conduct a multi-site cluster randomized study to compare two models of palliative care delivery for ESLD. She has contributed to advances in knowledge of clinical applications of Health Services Research, specifically in the areas of clinical integration of patient reported outcomes assessments,  integrated care models (palliative care and behavioral health), and population-based health approaches. 

In her role, she is responsible for promoting and facilitating leading edge research, including collaborative and interdisciplinary research, in areas related to the mission of the Department (to advance patient care, education and new treatments for liver diseases). She serves as the Steering Committee member for the American Association for Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Public Health / Healthcare Delivery Group and as the Vice Chair for the Education Subcommittee. Dr. Verma has won both the Albert Einstein Society Innovative Awards and Albert Einstein Society Research Awards as a Principal Investigator since 2015 onwards.  The studies supported from these awards have led to development of a PCOR Pillar within the Department. 

James F. Trotter

Dr. Trotter is the Director of General and Transplant Hepatology at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, and is fellowship-trained in hepatic transplantation and gastroenterology. His primary interests include end-stage liver disease, living donor liver transplantation, and the management of liver transplant candidates and recipients.

Dr. Trotter works closely with local physicians to support the management and treatment of patients with liver disease and evaluate possible candidacy for transplantation at the liver outreach clinic in the Austin area. Dr. Trotter completed his medical training at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas before receiving fellowship training in gastroenterology and hepatic transplantation at Duke University Medical Center.

James Spellos

James Spellos is the President of Meeting U, a company specializing in helping people become more productive and comfortable with technology.

Jim is certified as a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS). He delivers more than 100 seminars annually on how to use technology more efficiently, and how it is altering the nature of business. He was a faculty member at New York University, teaching in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies for over 25 years. He was honored with both their Award for Teaching Excellence and their Outstanding Service Award.

In 2014 Jim joined the Board of Directors for Rock and Wrap It Up, an anti-poverty, anti-hunger think tank, which supports food recovery for over 43,000 agencies in North America by recovering excess food from events. Jim co-created for them their Whole Earth Calculator app, which helps organizations identify the quantity of food donated and carbon footprint reduced by an organization helping to recover excess food from events.

Jim is an accomplished musician and songwriter, and released his first solo recording, Stroke of Genius, at the end of 2019.

Stephen Congly (Moderator)

Dr. Stephen Congly is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology with a practice consisting of both general and transplant hepatology. He completed his internal medicine and gastroenterology training at the University of Calgary and subsequently a fellowship in Hepatology at the University of Calgary and in Transplant Hepatology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

He has a Master of Science in Health Economics, Policy and Management from the London School of Economics and is a member of the O'Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. His research interests include health technology assessment, resource utilization, hepatocellular carcinoma and liver transplantation.

Kevork Peltekian

Dr. Peltekian is the head of Division of Digestive Care and Endoscopy at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre and Professor of Medicine and Surgery at Dalhousie University. Since 1995, he has been practicing as a specialist in liver disease and transplantation in Nova Scotia. Over the years, Dr. Peltekian has been frequently recognized for excellence in undergraduate and postgraduate education as well as research. He has over 80 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals. Over the years, he has held major leadership roles with Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Liver Foundation 2005-2009 and President of the Canadian Association for Study of Liver 2012-2014.

For his volunteer work and contributions to the fight against liver disease, Dr. Peltekian was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2017, Dr. Peltekian received the CASL Distinguished Service Award for his significant contributions to the practice of Hepatology in Canada. He has been a member of AASLD since 1993.