Prof. Natalia A.
Osna is currently working as a Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience as well as the Department of Internal
Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center. From 2013 to 2021, she served as
a Research Biologist at VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System. She holds
an M.D. (1978) and Ph.D. in Immunology (1984) obtained at the Latvian Medical Academy (Latvian State University), Center of Hepatology, Riga, Latvia. She is a member of the American Association of the Study of Liver Diseases
(currently, AASLD Fellow), the International Society for Biomedical Research on
Alcohol, the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcohol, the American
Association of Immunologists, and the International Society for Extracellular
Vesicles. Her research interests are liver, HIV, HCV, HBV, alcohol,
non-alcoholic liver injury, innate immunity, proteasome, antigen presentation,
IFN signaling, and treatment of viral hepatitis
Prof. Irina Tikhanovich is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Her educational experience is a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry at the National University of Ireland. She has a broad background in biochemistry and molecular biology, with specific expertise in liver biology and molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of liver disease. Her research interests focus on the role of epigenetic regulation in the various aspects of liver disease, particularly in liver cirrhosis. She is currently a Principal investigator on an R01 studying the role of arginine methyltransferase PRMT1 in alcohol-associated liver disease.
Marti Ortega-Ribera
received his PhD in Medicine and Translational Research from the University of
Barcelona (Spain) in July 2021. His PhD was developed at the Barcelona Hepatic
Hemodynamic Laboratory (IDIBAPS) focusing on the study of liver sinusoidal endothelial
cell biology, portal hypertension and developing complex culture systems to
model chronic liver disease and its mechanobiological cues. Currently, Marti is
a postdoctoral research fellow at the Szabo lab (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center—Harvard Medical School) understanding the alcohol-mediated immune
dysregulations in chronic and end-stage liver disease.
Sebastian Mueller is Professor of Medicine and he currently directs the Center for Alcohol Research (CAR) at the University of Heidelberg. He studied medicine in Leipzig, Denver, and Strasbourg and obtained a Ph.D. in Biophysics. He was a gastroenterology resident and a consultant in Heidelberg, a postdoctoral Humboldt fellow at USC in Los Angeles, and a lecturer at the BIDMC/Harvard Medical School. Prof. Mueller’s research focuses on liver diseases, namely alcoholic liver disease, with continuous funding from the DFG, NIH and others. He has published more than 200 original articles and edited major book projects, including “Liver elastography” and “Alcohol and alcohol-related diseases”, both published by Springer Nature. From 2017 to 2021, he was the President of the European Society of Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA). Prof. Mueller also holds guest professor positions at the Institute of Hepatology in London and in Nanning, PR China. He regularly sees liver patients at VISCERA/Hirslanden in Bern, Switzerland.
Dr. Yusuke Kimura is
an emergency medicine physician in Oakland, California, and is affiliated with
multiple hospitals in the area, including Kaiser Permanente Modesto and Manteca
Medical Centers and Kaiser Permanente Oakland and Richmond Medical Centers. He
graduated with honors from the University of California, Geffen School of
Medicine in 2004. He cooperates with many other doctors and specialists in the
medical group Permanente Medical Group Inc.
Dr. Debanjan Dhar is a Researcher at the Department of Medicine, University of California. His major research interests lie in (1) elucidating the signal transduction pathways responsible for liver cancer (HCC) initiation and progression with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapies; (2) developing a suitable pre-clinical model for Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, and developing novel therapeutic targets and non-invasive biomarkers.
Prof. David A. Brenner is currently working as a Higgins
Professor of Radiation Biophysics (in Radiation Oncology) and of Environmental
Health Sciences, Department of Medicine, La Jolla, United States. He is also
the Director of the Center for Radiological Research (CRR) and Radiological
Research Accelerator Facility (RARAF). From 2007 to 2023, he was Vice Chancellor
for Health Sciences at the University of California. Since 2023, he has served
as President and CEO of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. He
holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Surrey (UK) in 1980. He is a
member of the National Academy of Sciences Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board.
Tatiana Kisseleva received her medical degree at
Russian University of Friendship (Moscow, Russia). She finished her graduate
studies at Christian-Albrecht University in Germany. As a postdoctoral fellow
at Columbia University, she studied signal transduction and transgenic mouse technologies.
Currently, she is a Professor at the University of California San Diego. Since
joining UC San Diego in 2007, her lab has focused on the characterization of
the origin of fibrogenic myofibroblasts and the identification of novel targets for
anti-fibrotic therapy.
Prof. Iain H. McKillop has been a Research Professor in the Department of Surgery, Carolinas Medical Center - Wake Forest Baptist Health from January 2020 to the present. His research experience was as a Director of Research at the Department of Surgery, Carolinas HealthCare System from January 2008 to December 2019. His major research interests lie in investigations of Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Liver Pathology; Liver Diseases; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Regeneration; Liver Cancer; NASH; Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; and Fatty Liver.
Prof. Shilpa Chokshi
is a translational scientist in the field of hepatology, with research
interests that span viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, the immune
mechanisms driving cirrhosis, and the development of immunotherapeutic
treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma. She currently holds the position of
Professor of Experimental Hepatology at King’s College London and serves as the
Acting Director and Chief Scientific Officer for the Roger Williams Institute
of Hepatology. Here, she leads an active research program, providing both
scientific and academic leadership. Prof. Shilpa
Chokshi’s research strategy is dedicated to “supporting
research into liver diseases that yield tangible clinical benefits for
patients” and she leads a research portfolio that encompasses a wide spectrum
of clinical manifestations of liver disease, all categorized under the umbrella
of “Mechanisms of Hepatic Injury and Repair”. The collective focus of these
studies is fundamental discovery-based studies to identify novel drug targets
and biomarkers, aimed at tackling the intricate challenges associated with
treating liver disorders.
Prof. Ram Mahato is currently working as an Academic Chairperson and a Tenure Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy. He also served as a Courtesy Professor at the Eppley Institute for Cancer Research. He is also a member of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and the Child Health Research Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Britain in 1992. His research topics mainly include (i) micelle and nanoparticulate drug delivery, (ii) oligonucleotides, sirna, mirna and gene delivery (iii) synthesis of novel polymers, lipopeptides, lipopolymers and cationic lipids, (iv) construction of gene and shrna expression systems, and (v) design.
Prof. Karuna Rasineni is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center. Her educational experience includes a Bachelor's degree in 2001, a Master's in 2003, and a Ph.D. in 2009 at Sri Krishnadevaraya University. Her major research interests lie in investigations of alcohol-associated fatty liver disease; mon-alcoholic fatty liver disease; and aging and its effects on alcohol-associated fatty liver disease.
Prof. Gyongyi Szabo is the Mitchell T. Rabkin, M.D. Chair, a professor of Medicine, and Faculty Dean at Harvard Medical School and Chief Academic Officer at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Beth Israel Lahey Health. She is a physician–scientist and an internationally known expert on liver diseases. She is the lead investigator on the AlcHeptNet NIH-supported multicenter clinical trial in alcoholic hepatitis. She is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the AASLD, AGA, and the American College of Physicians (ACP). She has served on scientific advisory boards of biotech and pharmaceutical companies to help design and evaluate clinical trials. She served on the Governing Board and as president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in 2015. Her laboratory studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms of inflammation and innate immunity in liver injury to identify therapeutic targets focused on non-alcoholic liver disease, NASH, and alcoholic liver disease.
Prof. Kusum K. Kharbanda is a Professor at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Her educational experience includes a Bachelor's degree in Zoology, a Master's degree in Endocrinology, and a Ph.D. in Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of Delhi. Her major research interests lie in investigations of Alcoholic Liver Injury including steatosis, apoptosis, the accumulation of damaged proteins, impaired proteasome function, decreased creatine synthesis, and altered protein–protein interactions.
