How can women with liver diseases or organ transplants have healthier pregnancies? Careful, multidisciplinary management is key. This session will provide key updates in this area, covering topics like contraception use and pregnancy management across a spectrum of liver diseases, including the liver transplant population.

Natalie Bzowej
Christine Doligalski
Michael Heneghan
Monika Sarkar
Kidist Yimam

Value-Based Arrangements are increasingly becoming part of the healthcare landscape. The goal of this program is to educate and empower hepatologists to be valuable contributors to the success of these new arrangements and play an active role in developing and implementing beneficial approaches.

Meena Bansal
Ziad Gellad
Arpan Patel
Grace Su
Michael Volk

This timely program tackles the eternal question of how to best screen for liver disease in the general population. Speakers will take a global perspective to describe novel methods of screening, discuss high-risk patient populations and address issues of cost effectiveness and linkage to care.

Maya Balakrishnan
Fasiha Kanwal
W. Ray Kim
Andrew Yeoman

At this symposium, experts share the latest advances in the research of the microbiome and its relationship with NAFLD. They will discuss the microbiome’s association with disease progression, fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Topics covered will include the “cross talk” between obesity, the microbiome and NAFLD in both animal models and humans.

John Y.L. Chiang
Vanessa Leone

Several NIH institutes showcase programs, innovations and opportunities to the AASLD membership at this informative event. Representatives of the NCI, NIDDK, NIAID and NIAAA will present areas of mutual interest to the institute and AASLD membership, including liver cancer, NASH, viral hepatitis and alcohol use disorder. This is a unique opportunity to learn more about interagency collaboration and funding opportunities.

Jo Ann Rinaudo
Gary Murray

Discuss the current state of the ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program for gastroenterologists and transplant hepatologists at this update. Speakers will review the expense, time commitment and relevance of this program’s requirements; current MOC requirements in the program; the means to meet these requirements; progress made in addressing concerns from ABIM diplomats; and alternative pathways to board recertification.

Ryan M. Kwok
Paul Mathew
Heather M. Patton
Mark W. Russo
Richard K. Sterling

Discover how allocation impacts long-term outcomes for the transplant recipient and liver graft at this session. Speakers will address ways to improve the ability to interpret and identify the significance of long-term, post-transplant liver biopsy findings and offer tools to expand one’s perspective on individualizing immunosuppression to optimize long-term outcomes for the allograft and recipient.

Sandy Feng
Evelyn K. Hsu
Deirdre A. Kelly
Jennifer C. Lai
Josh Levitsky
Jacqueline G. O'Leary

Experts review recent progress in liver fibrosis research at this session, focusing on new discoveries of the molecular mechanisms and translational aspects of fibrosis and cirrhosis, including translation of findings into humans; the potential role of non-parenchymal cells; new transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of key contributors of fibrosis; mechanisms that may lead to novel therapies; and an update on antifibrotics.

Alan C. Mullen

Recent advances in liver bio-engineering have led to multiple in vitro culture systems that duplicate many complex cell-cell interactions of the intact liver. This symposium will highlight recent advances in this field, show current use of ex-vivo, 3D multicellular culture systems as probes of liver function and disease and update the progress toward the generation of the bio-artificial liver.

George K. Michalopoulos

AASLD members at all career stages are increasingly involved in social media like Twitter. This timely, lively discussion will explore the risks and benefits of tweeting from the perspectives of trainees, researchers, division leaders and journal editors.

Anthony Breu
Adam Mikolajczyk
Neehar Parikh
Rohit Satoskar
Elliot Tapper
Nneka Ufere