2021 Webinar: Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF) in Alcohol-associated Liver Disease (ALD)

Juan Pablo Arab, MD is an assistant professor of medicine at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile School of Medicine. Trained at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica, Chile and Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. Dr. Arab is a gastroenterology and hepatology specialist, transplant hepatologist and physician scientist with interest in translational and clinical research in alcohol-related liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. He is the Director for Living Donor Liver Transplantation at his institution.

Dr. Arab has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers on gastrointestinal and liver diseases in high-impact factor journals, co-authored several book chapters and delivered lectures on liver-related topics at national and international meetings. He has also participated in the generation of clinical practice guidelines for alcohol-related liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and hepatorenal syndrome and regularly serves as expert reviewer of research grants and scientific research abstracts for multiple societies, funding agencies and international peer reviewed journals. Additionally, he is spearheading an international collaboration group that aims to study alcohol-related liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. He is currently the Secretary of the Special Interest Group on Alcohol-associated Liver Disease of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and Vice-Chairs its global outreach subcommittee. Additionally, he is the Vice-President of the Chilean Hepatology Association and he is member of the Education and Scholarship Committee of the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS).

Lorenzo Leggio, MD, PhD, MSc is a physician-scientist who conducts clinical research on medication development and the role of neuroendocrine pathways in addictions. He is also an expert in the management and treatment of alcohol use disorder in patients with alcohol-related liver disease Dr. Leggio received his MD and PhD from the Catholic University of Rome and ‘Agostino Gemelli’ hospital (Italy), where he also completed residency and received Board Certification in Internal Medicine. He also received a masters in ‘Alcohol-related Diseases and Problems’ from the University of Florence. He was a visiting research associate, then postdoctoral research associate in Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Throughout his career, he has worked as a faculty member and principal investigator at Brown University and National Institutes of Health.

Jennifer C. Lai, MD, MBA is a general/transplant hepatologist, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and director of the UCSF Advancing Research in Clinical Hepatology (ARCH) program. Her mission is to improve the lives of patients with end-stage liver disease both at an individual level—through exceptional patient-centered care—and at a system-wide level—through rigorous clinical investigation and effective dissemination of impactful research. Her research lies at the intersection of hepatology, liver transplantation, and geriatrics, focusing on the application of aging research principles to the care of liver transplant patients across their life-long journey from diagnosis of advanced chronic liver disease through long after liver transplantation. The foundation for her research is the NIH-funded Multi-Center Functional Assessment in Liver Transplantation (FrAILT) Study.

Dr. Lai earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and combined MD/MBA degrees from Tufts University. She completed residency at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia followed by gastroenterology and transplant hepatology fellowships at UCSF. She serves as Associate Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation, member for the Editorial Boards for HEPATOLOGY and for Liver Transplantation and standing member on the FDA Gastrointestinal Drug Advisory Committee.

Ashwani K. Singal, MD, MS, AGAF, FACG, FAASLD is a professor of medicine at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and transplant hepatologist at the Avera transplant institute. In addition, he also directs the hepatology elective course for the senior medical students at the Sanford Medical School and is Chief of clinical research affairs at the Avera transplant institute. 

With clinical and translational research interests in alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, renal injury in cirrhosis, and porphyria, Dr. Singal’s research has been funded by the American College of Gastroenterology, National Institute of Health, and pharmaceutical industry. He has over 200 original peer reviewed articles in national / international journals and book chapters. He is on the editorial board of many journals including Liver Transplantation, co-editor in chief for Translational Gastroenterology Hepatology, and associate editor for Digestive Liver Disease, PLoS one, Journal of Clinical Translational Hepatology and Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology. Apart from reviewing research grants and scientific research abstracts for the AGA and AASLD, Dr. Singal is on the study section for the NIH. He is lead author on practice guidelines for alcoholic liver disease, has co-authored guidelines on vascular disorders of the liver and is currently involved in writing guidelines on nutritional management of patients with cirrhosis. Dr. Singal has been awarded the prestigious Edgar Achkar Visiting Professorship by the ACG and also chairs the special interest group on Alcohol-associated Liver Disease of the AASLD.

Winston Dunn, MD is an associate professor for the University of Kansas Medical Center. His expertise includes alcoholic associated liver disease, NASH clinical trials and cirrhosis regression after HCV treatment.

Dr. Dunn has served as editorial board member for Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology. He is currently the Education Chair of the Alcohol-associated Liver Disease (ALD) Special Interest Group Education Sub-Committee for the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). He is the site Principal Investigator for several multinational studies involving NASH treatment. Currently his research is funded by K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award, Lied Pre-Clinical and Clinical Research Pilot Grant Program, and Gilead NASH Models of Care ISR Program.

Constantine (Dean) Karvellas, MD, SM, FRCPC is an associate professor of medicine (Critical Care Medicine and Gastroenterology/Hepatology) at the University of Alberta and an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health Sciences. He has been an attending intensivist in the E. Garner King General Systems Intensive Care Unit since 2009 and is involved with the Liver Transplant program as a hepatologist.

Dr. Karvellas is the only Canadian co-investigator in the NIH-funded United States Acute Liver Failure study group (US ALFSG). He is also a Vice Chair of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) Liver management task force and serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hepatology. Dr. Karvellas’ publications reflect his interests in acute liver failure (ALF), acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF), liver transplantation and extracorporeal liver support.

Puneeta Tandon, MD, FRCPC is an associate professor of medicine, co-director of the Cirrhosis Care Clinic and transplant hepatologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She completed her internal medicine, hepatology and clinical epidemiology training at the University of Alberta with additional training at Yale University and the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona.

Dr. Tandon’s clinical practice and research are focused on cirrhosis with research interests including cirrhosis related complications, malnutrition, frailty, exercise therapy, palliative care and integrative health approaches such as meditation and behavior change techniques. It is her career goal to provide wholistic, interdisciplinary, patient-centered care through evidence, education, empowerment, engagement and teamwork.