2020 Webinar: Hepatitis C: Infection Beyond the Liver

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 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, 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 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.