Saturday Morning Coffee with Experts in NASH: What Is The Update?

Dr. Mazen Noureddin is the founding Director of Cedars-Sinai’s Fatty Liver Program in Los Angeles, California. The research of Mazen Noureddin, MD, MHSc, focuses on the underlying mechanisms of non- alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), new imaging modalities, non-invasive biomarkers, and exploring new treatments. He has conducted several original studies that have been featured in publications in Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, Gut, Hepatology, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, and many others. The Fatty Liver Program at Cedars- Sinai is conducting a number of breakthrough studies and clinical trials targeting new therapies in patients NAFLD and NASH, including those with advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Dr. Rohit Loomba is a Professor of Medicine (with tenure), Director of Hepatology, at University of California at San Diego. He is an internationally recognized thought leader in translational research and innovative clinical trial design in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and non-invasive assessment of NAFLD using advanced imaging modalities.

Dr. Loomba is the founding director of the UCSD NAFLD Research Center where his team is conducting cutting edge research in all aspects of NAFLD including non-invasive biomarkers, genetics, epidemiology, clinical trial design, imaging endpoints, and integrated OMICs using microbiome, metabolome, and lipidome. This integrated approach has led to several innovative applications such as establishment of MRI-PDFF as a non-invasive biomarker of treatment response in early phase trials in NASH, which has now been adopted in more than 50 clinical trials conducted worldwide. He holds a patent on non-invasive biomarkers of NASH and fibrosis.

His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health including two R01s, three U01 (two NIDDK and one from NIAAA), core director of P30 (NIDDK) and project director P01 (NHLBI) grant mechanisms, Foundation of NIH, National Science Foundation, as well as several investigator-initiated research projects funded by the industry. He is the Principal Investigator, UCSD, for the NIDDK-sponsored NASH Clinical Research Network. He served as the elected Chair of the NAFLD, Special Interest Group of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and is the elected member to the National Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation.

He serves on the Editorial Board of Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, GUT and Nature Reviews in gastroenterology and hepatology. He recently completed a 5-year term as the Deputy Editor of HEPATOLOGY, the official journal of the AASLD. Currently, he serves as the co-Editor of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, an international journal in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology.

Dr. Loomba has published more than 300 manuscripts and has an H-index of 92. He is among the top 1% of the globally highly cited scientists across all fields in 2019 and 2020 by Web of Science. He is an elected member of American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Younossi earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (Alpha Omega Alpha 1989) in Rochester, NY, USA. He completed his residency in internal medicine with a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California, USA, while earning his Master of Public Health degree from San Diego State University School of Public Health, San Diego, California, USA. He served as Staff Hepatologist and Senior Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, before establishing the Center for Liver Diseases at Inova Fairfax Hospital, which is now renowned for research related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and outcomes research in liver disease. He has served as Vice President of Research for Inova Health System and currently serves as the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation (2018-Present) and the Board of Inova Health System Foundation (2011-Present). Dr. Younossi was appointed by Governors T. Kaine and B. McDonnell of Virginia to the Board of Directors of Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority (2008-2014). He also served on the Virginia Tobacco & Health Research Repository (VTHRR), Board of Directors, America Heart Association, Mid-Atlantic Affiliate (2010-2012) and Board of the American College of Gastroenterology Institute for Clinical Research & Education (2013-Present). He has served on multiple committees for American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastrointestinal Association, and George Mason University as well as on numerous committees at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Inova Health System.

Dr. Younossi pioneered research in NAFLD and has been a leader in the field of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), economic assessment and other areas of outcomes research in liver disease. He leads a number of international efforts related to NAFLD and PROs in liver disease though global collaborations, including the Chair of Global NASH Council and the Global Liver and NASH Registries. In addition to research and administrative duties, Dr. Younossi has been actively involved in teaching students, residents, and fellows. He has also served as Chair, Director or faculty of a number of international scientific, and CME-related courses.

Dr. Younossi specializes in hepatology and gastroenterology and has authored over 510 articles, 3 books, 6 journal supplements, over 25 book chapters, and over 800 abstracts at the international scientific meetings. He is a highly sought-after speaker providing over 420 faculty lectures in national and international meetings. His academic productivity has led to an H-index of 82. Dr. Younossi also serves as the co-editor of Liver International, Associate Editor of Journal of Hepatology, and on the editorial board of a number of important medical journals. He has represented the American Association of Liver Disease and American Gastroenterological Association at different congressional meetings.