2018 Advances for Practitioners

Michael B. Fallon, MD, FAASLD is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix (UACOMP). A national expert in transplant hepatology and pulmonary complications of cirrhosis, he is actively involved in translational and multicenter clinical studies of hepatopulmonary syndrome and portopulmonary hypertension. He has over 140 publications with 30 years of academic medicine experience including extensive patient care, education, leadership and clinical investigation in internal medicine. In his role as Chair of the Department of Medicine, Dr. Fallon provides executive leadership to many of the multidisciplinary programs at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, ten UACOMP divisions, and more than 160 residents and fellows.

Dr. Fallon has received numerous awards recognizing his accomplishments in academic medicine including teaching, research and innovation.  Additionally, he has held numerous leadership positions in professional organizations including multiple committees of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Transplant Hepatology Test Committee for 9 years and is a past senior associate editor of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.  He also serves as the lead author for the Diseases of the Liver and Biliary System Chapters for Cecil Essentials of Medicine for the past 15 years.

Juan G. Abraldes, MD 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 has published over 200 manuscripts 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. He was the chair of the AASLD Portal Hypertension Special Interest Group from 2017-2018.

Guadalupe Garcia-Tsao, MD, FAASLD is Professor of Medicine, Chief of Digestive Diseases and Program Director of the Hepatitis C Resource Center at Veteran’s Administration-Connecticut Healthcare System, as well as Director of Clinical and Translational Core at Yale Liver Center. She is a past president of AASLD. She received her M.D. and training at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. Her primary research focus is on clinical research which focuses on cirrhosis and its complications, and she also is involved in the study of bacterial infections in cirrhosis, a complication that is often overlooked.