NAFLD SIG: Non-Invasive Diagnosis of NASH: We're getting There

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Recorded On: 10/20/2017

Review the rapidly evolving landscape of non-invasive diagnostic tools for the diagnosis and staging of NAFLD. Non-invasive Diagnosis of NASH will look at the current role of — and available alternatives to —liver biopsy in the assessment of NASH and discuss the controversial issue of utilizing liver biopsy as the “gold-standard” endpoint in clinical trials. The program will review the application of biomarkers in assessing dynamic changes in NAFLD as it pertains to response to therapies and the potential that such biomarkers (serum or imaging) could predict clinical outcomes in NAFLD.

Zachary D. Goodman

Anna Mae Diehl

Anna Mae Diehl, MD, FAASLD is currently the Florence McAlister Professor of Medicine at Duke University.  She is a physician scientist and academic hepatologist.  Her lab-based research activities focus on basic mechanisms of liver repair and complement her translational/clinical research programs in alcoholic- and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.  In the past two years, Dr. Diehl she has co-authored ten peer-reviewed manuscripts on these topics.

Her basic research program has enjoyed uninterrupted NIH RO1 support since 1990 and she has been the Principal Investigator for the NASH CRN UO1 clinical research program at Duke since its inception over 15 years ago. Dr. Diehl’s research contributions to the fields of regenerative medicine, alcohol-related liver disease and NAFLD have been acknowledged by election for membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Interurban Clinical Club, Association of Academic Professors and Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars, as well as awards such as an NIH/NIAAA Merit Award, the NIAAA Mendelson Award, the Duke Distinguished Faculty Award, and the AASLD Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award. 

Dr. Diehl has been an associate editor/editorial board member for major journals such as HEPATOLOGY, Gastroenterology, GUT, The American Journal of Physiology, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Nature Reviews, and eLife.  In addition, she has served as a standing member of several NIH study sections and scientific advisory councils for NIDDK, NCI, NIAAA, the American Liver Foundation, the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, NIDDK Digestive Disease Centers at Baylor, USC and U Pittsburgh, and NIAAA Alcohol Research Centers at U Louisville and the Cleveland Clinic.  

Quentin M. Anstee

Quentin M. Anstee, BSc, MB BS, PhD, MRCP, FRCP is Chair of Experimental Hepatology and Deputy-Dean of Research & Innovation in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, UK. A practicing clinician, he is also an Honorary Consultant Hepatologist in the Liver Transplant Unit at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, where he leads one of the largest Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) clinical services in the United Kingdom. He trained in medicine at University College London where he was awarded a First-Class Honours degree and won First Prize in Medicine in the final MB BS examination.

Professor Anstee’s translational research has made major contributions across the pathophysiology, natural history, diagnosis and treatment of NAFLD. His work has provided key insights into temporal changes in steatohepatitis during disease evolution, identified genetic and epigenetic modifiers of liver disease progression and hepatocellular carcinoma risk, and has substantially advanced the field of biomarker development in liver disease. He coordinates two major international research consortia that are studying NAFLD pathogenesis and developing/validating accurate biomarkers to assist the diagnosis, risk-stratification and monitoring of patients with NAFLD: ‘EPoS’ Elucidating Pathways of Steatohepatitis (EU H2020 funded €6 million, 2015-2019) and ‘LITMUS’ Liver Investigation: Testing Marker Utility in Steatohepatitis (EU IMI2 funded €47.3 million, 2017-2022). He has established a pan-European NAFLD Registry and is the chief investigator of multiple ongoing clinical trials assessing new medical therapies for NAFLD. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Hepatology.

Stephen A. Harrison

Stephen A. Harrison, MD, FAASLD earned his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at Brooke Army Medical Center and a 4th year advanced liver disease fellowship at Saint Louis University. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. Dr. Harrison is currently a Visiting Professor of Hepatology at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. He is internationally known for studies in hepatitis C and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with over 200 peer reviewed publications in these fields. Currently, Dr. Harrison serves as the Medical Director for Pinnacle Clinical Research and the President of Summit Clinical Research. 

Christopher Leptak

Mary E. McCarthy Rinella

Mary E. Rinella, MD is a Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and is the Director of the Northwestern Fatty Liver Program. She received her medical degree from the University of Illinois.  She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago and her fellowship in Gatroenterology and Hepatology at Northwestern University, where she remains on faculty.  She studied basic mechanisms of steatohepatitis with the support of the American Gastroenterological Association and the National Institute of Health for 10 years.  Currently her focus is in clinical research in the area of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/NASH both before and after liver transplantation. Her primary clinical focus within the NASH realm is on the associations between NASH and other metabolic co-morbidities, emerging NASH therapeutics and the recurrence of NASH after liver transplantation.  She established a multicenter consortium to study the risk factors for liver disease recurrence and outcomes of patients transplanted for NASH cirrhosis (NailNASH Consortium).  Dr. Rinella is actively involved in the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases where she currently serves as Councilor-at-large on the Governing Board.  She has held several national leadership roles in the field of NAFLD including Chair of the AASLD NAFLD Special Interest Group (SIG) and most recently as Chair of the AASLD NASH Task Force.  As Chair of the NASH Task Force, she is charged with fostering research collaboration and advancing best practice through collaboration with other medical societies, federal agencies and patient advocacy organizations.

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