2021 Webinar: Natural History of NAFLD/NASH in Children: Knowledge, Gaps and Interventions

Shikha S. Sundaram, MD, FAASLD, is an associate professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado School of Medicine. As a pediatric hepatologist and translational researcher with expertise in pediatric NAFLD, she studies the impact of chronic intermittent hypoxia on disease progression.

Dr. Sundaram is a member of the AASLD NASH Task Force and the Annual Meeting Education Committee. She has published extensively in pediatric NAFLD, but also on the impact of undernutrition on pediatric liver disease as well as long term outcomes in pediatric liver disease and transplantation. She serves on the board of the National Charity League and on the Medical Advisory Committee for the Rocky Mountain American Liver Foundation and Round Up River Ranch.

Samar Ibrahim, M.B.Ch.B is an associate professor of Pediatrics and Physiology at the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Mayo Clinic. Dr. Ibrahim is a pediatric  transplant hepatologist  and a physician scientist. Her research focus is to study the mechanism of liver injury and inflammation in nonalcoholic steatohepatis (NASH), with  the goal to identify novel biomarkers and mechanism-based therapeutic targets. Her recently published work identified the vascular adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1) as a potential novel therapeutic target in NASH. Dr. Ibrahim and her research team have examined the role of extracellular vesicles as biomarkers, as well as mediators of intercellular communication in NASH pathobiology. They recently defined the role of integrin beta1-enriched extracellular vesicles in NASH. Dr. Ibrahim serves as the medical director of the pediatric liver transplant program at Mayo clinic, and is interested in studying factors responsible for late liver graft dysfunction, as well as developing models that better predict the acuity of the pediatric liver transplant candidate on the wait list.

Dr. Ibrahim is a member of the editorial board for HEPATOLOGY and the American Journal of Physiology, gastrointestinal and liver physiology. She is currently and active member of the hepatology committee at the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) and the education committee and the advocacy committee at the study of pediatric liver transplant (SPLIT).  Dr. Ibrahim serves on the steering committee for the pediatric SIG at AASLD. Dr. Ibrahim is the Principal Investigator of the lipotoxicity and liver inflammation laboratory at Mayo Clinic.  She is an active member of the center of cell signaling in gastroenterology at Mayo Clinic and moderates the center weekly scientific seminar series. Dr. Ibrahim has served on  NIDDK study sections, as well as a reviewer for international funding agencies. Dr. Ibrahim  has mentored numerous medical students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows.

Rohit Kohli, MBBS, MS, FASSLD is the chief of the division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and associates chair in Liver and Intestinal Research, at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is also a Professor of Pediatrics (Clinical Scholar) at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. His clinical training and 20 years of experience have focused on caring for children needing liver transplant. Currently his administrative responsibility includes the highest ranked program for Pediatric Gastroenterology on the West Coast of the United States. His clinical, translational and basic science research work has been focused on obesity-related fatty liver disease (NASH) and weight loss surgery with 15 plus years of continuous funding support from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Kohli has served as editorial/advisory board member for major journals such as HEPATOLOGY, Pediatric Transplantation and Pediatric Obesity. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Pediatric Hepatology Special Interest Group for the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and a member of the nominating committee of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN). He is an active teacher and educator, with the current added responsibility of being the director of the Pediatric Scientists Program (Donnell Scholar Program) at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.