Drs. Mark Czaja, Paul Gaglio, Sanjeev Gupta, Jayanta Roy-Chowdhury, and Allan Wolkoff have been selected for the 2014 Inaugural Class of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Fellows.
The Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD) designation is the highest honor among AASLD membership categories, recognizing superior professional achievement in clinical or academic practice, and in basic or clinical research. The FAASLD designation is given to physicians, scientists, researchers or health care providers who have made major contributions to the knowledge and/or practice of liver and biliary diseases, and who are considered leaders in the field.
Dr. Czaja, Professor of Medicine, investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying the process of liver cell injury and death in order to develop new therapies to prevent human liver failure. His laboratory has made novel insights into how hepatocyte injury is regulated by cell signaling pathways and products of the inflammatory response such as the cytokine tumor necrosis factor. bio
Dr. Gaglio, Professor of Clinical Medicine, joined the Montefiore Einstein faculty in December 2007 to help establish the liver transplantation program at Montefiore Medical Center, where he now serves as the medical director of Adult Liver Transplantation. His research interests include models to enhance liver regeneration, novel treatments of hepatitis B and C, natural history of hepatitis C in liver transplant recipients, and non alcoholic fatty liver disease. bio
Dr. Gupta, Professor of Medicine and Einstein Professor of Pathology, is a a world leader in liver-directed cell and gene therapy and stem cell biology. He has discovered various mechanisms for coaxing transplanted cells to attach to host tissue and multiply, paving the way for treating health problems such as high cholesterol, hemophilia, liver failure, and hepatitis. He has successfully manipulated human stem cells to generate liver cells and defined some of the fundamental ways by which gene expression is regulated in stem cells. bio
Dr. Roy-Chowdhury, Professor of Medicine and Genetics, conducts research in liver-directed gene therapy to further progress of uncovering a successful clinical application. His studies focus on cell-based therapies for genetic liver diseases, human stem cells as a source of liver cells, and gene therapy for repair of liver cell damage. bio
A past recipient of the AASLD Distinguished Service Award, Dr. Wolkoff, Professor of Medicine and Anatomy & Structural Biology and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology & Liver Diseases, is a pioneer in the combining of disciplines that inform basic understanding of liver cell function and relation to disease. He is recognized worldwide for providing new windows into physiology and pathophysiology. bio
Drs. Czaja, Gaglio, Gupta, Roy-Chowdhury, and Wolkoff will be presented their honors at the first annual AASLD Fellows Reception during The Liver Meeting of the AASLD, November 7-11, 2014, in Boston, MA.