Season 2, Episode 16 - The NAFLD pandemic
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver diseases and a leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in western countries. NAFLD does not only affect the liver but was shown to be a multisystem disease with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, kidney and cardiovascular diseases.
In honour of the International NASH Day (09 June), EASL Studio will host a special episode on the NAFLD pandemic, the discussions will include:
- Impact of lifestyles and policies for NAFLD and NASH prevention
- The complexity of NASH clinical trials
- Therapeutic approach in patients with HCC and NAFLD/NASH aetiology
Faculty:
- Prof. Philip Newsome (Moderator)
- Prof. Jean-François Dufour
- Prof. Shira Zelber-Sagi
Industry representatives:
- Dr Daniel Vega Møller (Novo Nordisk A/S)
- Prof. Andrea Casadei Gardini (Eisai Europe Ltd.)
This EASL Studio episode is supported by Novo Nordisk A/S and EISAI Europe Ltd.
Speakers
Philip Newsome (Moderator)
Philip Newsome is Professor of Hepatology at the University of Birmingham and Deputy Director at Birmingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). He has a large laboratory group focussing on the role of cell therapy in liver injury and has established three cutting edge clinical trials for which he is the Chief Investigator.
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He runs the metabolic services at the Liver Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham which include a large multi-disciplinary clinic for patients with NAFLD. He is the Co-ordinating Investigator for several global NAFLD studies, he chaired the national guidelines for liver transplantation in NAFLD and sat on the NICE Guideline Development Group for NAFLD. In addition, he led the recent UK multi-stakeholder guideline group on the management of abnormal liver blood tests and led on NAFLD for the recent EASL Lancet Liver Commission.
Jean-François Dufour
Professor Jean-Francois Dufour studied mathematics at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and received his medical degree from the Geneva Medical School. After training in internal medicine in Switzerland, he joined the laboratory of Professor I. Arias at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied the effects of calcium signalling on bile canaliculus.
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He returned to the clinic to complete a gastroenterology fellowship with Professor M. Kaplan at the New England Medical Center. Then, Professor Dufour established his own laboratory at the University of Bern, Switzerland, where he was clinic director for 10 years. Professor Dufour is a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (fellow), the American Gastroenterology Association (fellow), the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). He is a founding member of the International Liver Cancer Association. He was twice member of governing board of EASL as scientific committee member and then as educational councillor. He was member of the United European Gastroenterology educational committee. Professor Dufour has a large clinical experience and a broad understanding of basic and translational research, its bottleneck and the challenges in disseminating and exploiting knowledge. Professor Dufour has served as principal investigator on numerous clinical studies, focusing on NASH and hepatocellular carcinoma. He is an associate editor of GUT, and was an associate editor of Hepatology (responsible for the monthly ‘Highlights’ section), Journal of Hepatology and Liver International.
Shira Zelber-Sagi
Professor Shira Zelber-Sagi is a full professor and the Head of the School of Public Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa. She is a clinical dietitian, Epidemiologist, and researcher with interest in nutritional epidemiology and NAFLD, and other chronic co-morbidities.
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She is a member of the EASL Policy and Public Health Committee and the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Policy and Public Health Committee. In addition, she is founder of the Gastroenterology forum of the Israeli dietitians’ association.
Andrea Casadei Gardini
Professor Andrea Casadei Gardini is a senior researcher and Consultant Medical Oncologist at San Raffaele Hospital (University Vita e Salute), Milan, Italy. Head of liver oncology unit at the same hospital. He leads a translational and clinical research program focusing on hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma and is a member of the AIOM Guidelines Writing Committee on Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
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He has been invited to give oral presentations at several international conferences including the Annual conference of the Asian Pacific Association for The Study of the liver 2017; International Liver Cancer Association 2017 (Seoul); International Liver Cancer Association 2018 (London); International Liver Cancer Association 2019 (Chicago) and EASL HCC-summit 2019 (Lisboa).
Daniel Vega Møller
Daniél Vega Møller is Vice President in Clinical Drug Development, Obesity & NASH within Novo Nordisk A/S.
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He graduated in Medicine at the University of Copenhagen in 2000, where he also obtained his PhD within molecular cardio-genetics and heart failure. He has also been involved in the analysis of different biomarkers and their importance for prediction within the field of hypertension, CVD and obesity. After 10 years in the hospital setting in internal medicine, mainly cardiology, he moved to Novo Nordisk and has been employed for almost 12 years focusing on drug development within the portfolio of insulin, obesity and metabolism leading to approval of new drugs for the benefit of the people with chronic diseases.
He is currently overall responsible for the departments driving the clinical development plans within obesity and NASH at the clinical stages of development from phase 1-4, including the exploration of possible diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
