EASL Mentorships

Between 1989–1992, I completed my Ph.D. (Pharm. D) in the Institute for Biomedical Research (IIB, CSIC, Madrid). I was a postdoctoral fellow at the comprehensive cancer center of Georgetown University, Washington D.C., I investigated oncogenic pathways induced by chemical carcinogens and ionizing radiation. In 1995, I returned to the IIB (CSIC) before joining the University of Navarra as Assistant Professor in 1997. Between 1995–2004, my research focused on alterations of one-carbon metabolism in liver disease and hepatocarcinoma, pioneering studies on the regulation of enzymatic activities by free radicals and nitric oxide, as well as the epigenetic control of gene expression by extracellular signals. Since 2004, I have uncovered novel mechanisms regulating liver regeneration, fibrogenesis, and carcinogenesis mediated by growth factors, cytokines, and bile acids. Over the past decade, my work has centered on epigenetic drivers of liver cancer and the identification of therapeutic targets. More recently, I have advanced liquid biopsy approaches for hepatobiliary malignancies, advocating bile as a sensitive diagnostic matrix, and contributed to translational studies validating mRNA-based therapies for rare liver metabolic diseases.

My research, published in leading international journals and through collaborations worldwide, has been continuously funded for over 23 years by ISCIII, the Spanish Ministry of Science, and competitive international programs. I have mentored numerous early- and mid-career scientists well as 20 Ph.D. students.

We also collaborate with the industry through research agreements. Among them, the US companies Moderna Therapeutics and Epizyme, and the Barcelona-based biopharmaceutical company Kintsugi Therapeutics, in which I am a member of their Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). I am a member of the Scientific Committee of the University of Navarra Cancer Center (CCUN), accredited by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC). I was member of the governing boards of the European and the Spanish Associations for the Study of the Liver (EASL, 2011-14, AEEH, 2015-17). Currently, I am in the SABs of: i) Institut Cochin, Paris, France; ii) Centre de Recherche sur l’Inflammation of the University Paris Cité and Inserm (CRI), Paris, France; iii) HUNTER consortium funded by CRUK, AIRC, and AECC, UK, Italy, Spain; and iv) DELIVER Program for academic and clinical health research, Inserm and ANR, France. I am Associate Editor (AE) of the Gut journal (2011-19, and 2023-today). Editorial Boards: From 2019 to 2023 I was AE of the Journal of Hepatology (EASL). I am, or have been, member of the Editorial Boards of major journals in the field: Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology and Liver International. Grant evaluation: I regularly evaluate INSERM research units (France), and research grants for: AIRC (Italy), ANR, AIRC and AFEF (France), CRUK (UK), Israel Science Foundation, PHRT (Switzerland) and the ERC. I am Expert evaluator of The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), Poland. I regularly participate in the evaluation panels for the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain).

I earned my RN qualification in 1987, Diploma in Health Education in 2002, Master of Public Health in 2007, and a PhD degree in 2014. Between 2019 and 2022, I served as board member of EASL – Nurses and AHP’s Task Force.

My research interests encompasses a wide range of topics, including fatigue, anemia, Health related Quality of Life, health literacy, healthcare service development, nutrition and adherence. I have contributed to > 50 research papers predominantly addresses healthcare issues for patients with liver cirrhosis or IBD. Moreover, I focusses on addressing inequality in health, exploring e-health and men’s health issues.

After his medical studies in Gent, Berlin and Freiburg (1976-1983) and his neuropharmacological dissertation he underwent postdoctoral training in Biochemistry at the University of Göttingen (1984-1986), clinical training as Internist and Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist (1986-1995) at the University of Munich where he completed his ‘habilitation’ (1994). He spent a research period (1991-1993) and a sabbatical (2015) at Yale University in New Haven and became a Professor of Internal Medicine in 2001 in Munich and Full Professor of Gastroenterology & Hepatology (2007) and Chair Hepatology (2010-2023) in Amsterdam. Major research interests were/are the pathogenesis and treatment of immune-mediated cholestatic liver diseases and their clinical manifestations (1987-2026). Ulrich Beuers published/coauthored >700 articles (WoS) and has been invited speaker in 35 countries. He served since 1997 for the Journal of Hepatology in several Editorial Teams as Associate Editor. Ulrich Beuers chaired the Netherlands Association for the Study of the Liver (NASL; 2012-2018) and the Netherlands GI & Hepatology education committee (2014-2017). He was member of the EASL Governing Board (2018-2023) and EASL Educational Councillor (2019-2023). He chaired/co-chaired European Clinical Guidelines for cholestatic liver diseases and IgG4-related disease and contributed to others (PBC, PSC, Pregnancy). He mentored 40 doctoral fellows. He and his fellows received numerous national/international scientific awards for their work among which the EASL Recognition Award 2025.

She works at national and strategic level on behalf of the liver nurse community which has allowed her to develop a rounded set of leadership, communication and influencing skills. Michelle also has a strong background in education having worked as a lecturer at the University of Leeds; thus, ensuring her educational and teaching skill set is robust, rigorous, and quality assured, whilst being flexible and tailored to the individual’s needs.

Dr. Forner’s clinical activity is focused on the care of patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). His investigational fields are the early diagnosis of HCC (on which he wrote his doctoral thesis), the treatment of early HCC and the diagnosis and management of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).

Dr. Forner has authored several original articles, editorials, and reviews about HCC and CCA in “peer reviewed” journals (h-index: 45) He is a reviewer for the most cited peer-reviewed journals in hepatology, including Hepatology, Gut, Journal of Hepatology, and Liver Transplantation, and in oncology (Lancet Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research), and is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Liver International. He has served as author of the Spanish Guidelines for HCC management (2009, 2016 and 2020), and he has been panellist of the EASL-Clinical Practice Guidelines of Benign tumours, released in 2016, Hepatocellular carcinoma, published in 2018 and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, released in May 2023. Finally, Dr. Forner is currently the Scientific Secretary of the AEEH since March 2025

Alongside my clinical work, I lead a translational research laboratory focused on elucidating the role of the endothelium in liver disease and the pathophysiology of portal hypertension. Trained in one of the few dedicated units worldwide, I have developed extensive expertise in both clinical and experimental hepatology. I maintain an active international collaboration network across Europe and abroad, leading multiple research initiatives at international level. In addition, I have been involved in academic mentorship for several years, having supervised more than ten doctoral theses and trained numerous fellows in hepatology and interventional techniques.

His decade-long career at WHO’s European Office was followed by serving as the Vice-Chair of the EASL International Liver Foundation, Board Chair of AFEW International and as the first director of Health Systems Global. He currently serves as the director of the Global Think-tank on Steatotic Liver Disease, Chair of the Healthy Livers Healthy Lives coalition, and head of MASH Cities. He is the author of more than 450 publications, and is principal investigator of multiple global studies and clinical trials, and a work package leader of Europe’s largest liver research consortium: LiverAIM. In 2023 he was the recipient of the American Liver Foundation Distinguished Scientific Achievement award and in 2025 the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE) Public Service Award.

Emeritus Professor, formerly at the Departments of Medicine and of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.

His clinical and research interests focus on viral hepatitis B, C, and D. He has authored or co-authored approximately 370 peer-reviewed publications addressing the pathophysiology of viral hepatitis in humans and experimental animal models, liver tissue diagnostics, and the factors influencing the clinical progression of liver disease.

He has participated in several clinical trials on the treatment of acute and chronic hepatitis C and has contributed to public health research on access to care. He served as a member of the hepatitis C and D guideline development panels for both EASL and the WHO.

In medical education, he has promoted the flipped classroom model for teaching medical students and residents, both within EASL and at the University of Geneva. He continues to lead a Journal Club at the Faculty of Medicine, focusing on the role of cognitive biases in medical decision-making.

At EASL, Professor Negro contributed for several years, including launching the iLiver application in 2012, and later serving as Educational Councillor and Treasurer.

He is specialized in internal medicine, in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology, as well as in internal intensive care medicine and infectious Diseases. He has been actively involved in studies on end-stage cirrhosis, liver transplantation, viral hepatitis and HIV-HCV coinfection. Lately, his main research areas are metabolic liver diseases and liver cancer.

Prof Peck-Radosavljevic has served as Secretary General of EASL between 2013-2015. He has been a member of the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Council since 2015 and the Chair of the UEG Public Affairs Committee (PAC) since 2018. In 2021, he will become the President of the International Association of the Study of the Liver (IASL).

He has performed pioneering research into the underlying origin of scarring, or fibrosis associated with chronic liver disease. In particular he has showed for the first time, the contribution of the bone marrow derived cells during liver fibrosis.

Being a Physician Scientist, and thanks to the Padova Unievrsity Hospital and the Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology (Discog) that is a state of the art research pole, he is uniquely positioned to translate scientific knowledge to the clinic.

He has been always involved in basic and clinical liver research, since he was a resident in Gastroenterology, studying the xenoperfusion of a rat liver with human blood by intravital microscopy or the possibility to support parenchymal liver cells by acellular matrix. During his Phd he performed his research in the UK at Imperial College London, with the group of Prof. Stuart J Forbes and Prof. Malcolm R. Alison and they showed for the first time, in liver transplant patients of diverse disease etiology, a circulating population of cells of recipient origin that were present within the fibrotic liver that had a myofibroblast phenotype. After Prof. Russo came back to Italy, he set up his own laboratory as PI, and during these years he kept studying liver regeneration and repair after acute and chronic liver injury in mice and human model.

He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology & Hepatology and Infectious Disease. He leads the translational Liver Research Program at the University of the Saarland. His research focuses on translational sciences and clinical trials in Hepatology. He is involved in multinational, EU-funded research consortia exploring new technologies and approaches for the prevention and screening of metabolic liver disease and the development of novel biomarkers.

Professor Schattenberg is member of the Policy, Public Health and Advocacy Committee of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), a member of the Editorial Board of Hepatology and the Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics and an Associate Editor of JHEP Reports.

He has designed and implemented the first two-step primary care pathway for MASLD referrals to secondary care, a model that has since shaped numerous international guidelines. He is an active member of the Baveno steering committee for portal hypertension and leads a dynamic research program with competitive funding from NIHR, MRC, EASL and the EU Horizon 2020 framework.

He has published more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with an h-index of 84, and has held prominent leadership roles within EASL, serving on the Governing Board (2019–2022) and as Chair of the Scientific Committee (2021–2022). He is currently Associate Editor of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

He manages a hepatology and internal medicine outpatient service and is head of the Biological Resource Center Unit, and of the clinical and translational research at the Precision Medicine Unit at the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Policlinico Hospital in Milan.

His main research interests are metabolic and genetic liver diseases, application of precision medicine approaches in the field of hepatology with a special focus on metabolic steatotic liver disease and metabolic disorders. He was a member of the EASL Scientific committee and Governing Board and is Editor-in-chief of Liver International.

He authored 473 peer-reviewed papers; total impact factor = 5,276; 222 papers as main author (IF=2,534; average IF=11.4). Scholar: H-index 107, SCOPUS H-index: 90. FWCI: 5.12.

She understands not only the unmet needs of liver patients and impact on their quality of life but also the issues that healthcare professionals face. Her strength lies in finding the bridge between the two.
She retired in 2024, but was not ready to live a life of doing nothing.

She is a member of the EASL Policy Public Health Advocacy Committee (PPHA), ESPGHAN Public Affairs Committee (PAC), and several international advisory boards and committees like the ERDERA (European Rare Disease Research Alliance) advisory board. In the Netherlands, she supervises PhD students in the field of patient perspective and advises on applications for funding for international scientific research

His research interests focus on the understanding of viral persistence to discover and develop novel treatments to cure chronic HBV and HDV infections.
He is Director of the INSERM Unit 1350 PaThLiv “Pathobiology and Therapy of Liver Diseases” and founded the Lyon Hepatology Institute “IHU EVEREST” in 2023 (Center of Excellence label from the French Government). He is also the co-founder of the International Coalition to Eliminate HBV (ICE-HBV) and coordinates the ANRS “HBV cure” program in France.

Dr Zoulim has served as a governing board member and educational councilor of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and as an associate editor of Journal of Hepatology. He is currently an associate editor of Gut.

He received several international awards including the Gertrude Elion Award from the International Society for Antiviral research (2023) and the Distinguished Award in HBV Research from the International HBV meeting (2022). He is a Highly Cited Researcher from the Web of Science Clarivate ranking (2021 & 2024).