Meet the faculty
Dr Kris Kowdley
Dr. Kris Kowdley, is Director of Liver Institute Northwest and professor, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University. He received his B.S. in Biology and Anthropology as a member of the Dean’s List at Columbia University, and his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at Oregon Health Science University and a Fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Dr. Kowdley is internationally recognized as a clinician, educator, and researcher in liver disease. He has led several major international clinical trials of new treatments for hepatitis C, primary biliary cholangitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Dr. Kowdley’s translational and laboratory research focuses on the role of iron as a co-factor in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, novel murine models, and biomarkers for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis. His research program has been continually funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1999.
Dr. Kowdley is the author of more than 1,000 articles, book chapters, reviews, abstracts and commentaries, and his scholarly work has been cited more than 65,000 times (h-index 118), according to Google Scholar. He is on the Web of Science list of “Highly Cited Researchers” (top 1% by citations for field) for 2019-2023.
Disclosures
Honoraria or consultation fees: CymaBay, Enanta, Genfit, GSK, Gilead, HighTide, Inipharm, Intercept, Ipsen, Madrigal, Mirum, NGM, Pfizer, 89bio, Zydus, Abbvie, Intercept, Gilead
Grants/research support: Boston, Corcept, CymaBay, Genfit, Gilead, GSK, Hanmi, Intercept, Ipsen, Janssen, Madrigal, Mirum, Novo Nordisk, NGM, Pfizer, Pliant, Terns, Viking, 89bio, Zydus
Stocks, shares or equity: Inipharm
Professor David Jones
Professor Jones is Professor of Liver Immunology at Newcastle University and PI for the UK-PBC Research Consortium. He leads the internationally renowned autoimmune liver disease clinical service in Newcastle. He has worked in the area of the autoimmune liver disease Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) for over 30 years, starting as an MRC Clinical Research and Clinician Scientist Fellow. Working initially on the underpinning biology of the disease he has translated key mechanistic discoveries into new approaches to therapy.
The UK-PBC MRC Stratified Medicine programme, which he led, has revolutionised thinking in the disease, defining the unmet need, developing the clinical tools needed to quantify risk and identifying the patient groups who need enhanced therapy in PBC. He has led the evaluation, approval and implementation programmes for the first stratified therapy in PBC (and indeed any rare liver disease), Obeticholic Acid, which is now available across the NHS. He was also the founder Coordinator for the RARE-LIVER European Reference Network (ERN) which was established to support the development of clinical delivery programmes for rare liver disease across Europe. He is an Emeritus NIHR Senior Investigator and in June 2018 was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth for his services to Liver Medicine
Disclosures
Honoraria or consultation fees: Intercept, Advanz, GSK, Ipsen, Cymabay, Umecrine
Grants/research support: Intercept
Participation in a company sponsored speaker bureau: GSK, Falk, Ipsen, Advanz
Dr Gideon Hirschfield
Dr Gideon Hirschfield is the Lily and Terry Horner Chair in Autoimmune Liver Disease Research. He directs autoimmune liver disease research at the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, where he is also the clinic director. The group focuses on the care of patients with primary biliary cholangitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and autoimmune hepatitis in particular, as well as other rare liver diseases. Research is embedded into the clinic with a focus on translating basic science to clinical care, and providing evidence through trials and real world cohorts for the development and implementation of new therapies.
Disclosures
Honoraria or consultation fees: GSK, Intercept, Advanz, Cymabay, Pliant, Mirum, Kowa, Ipsen
Dr Palak Trivedi
Dr. Trivedi is an Associate Professor at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) in the UK. He is Chief Investigator for the UK-Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) consortium, elected chair of the British Association for Study of the Liver Special Interest Group (BASL SIG) for immune-mediated and cholestatic liver disease, and elected steering committee member of the Global Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) Group and International PSC Study Groups in 2022.
The overarching themes of his research include: the role of gut-liver immunity, modelling the natural history of rare liver disease, and optimising risk stratification to enhance clinical trial design in chronic cholestasis.
Disclosures
Honoraria or consultation fees: Albireo/Ipsen, Advanz/Intercept, Pliant pharma, Cymabay, Dr. Falk Pharma, GSK
Dr Marlyn Mayo
Marlyn Mayo received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed internship and residency in Internal Medicine at University of California, Irvine. She completed fellowships in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where she is currently a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases. Dr. Mayo is recognized internationally for her expertise in autoimmune liver diseases, particularly primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). She has been the recipient of numerous grants to study the pathophysiology and treatment of PBC and its symptoms from the National Institute of Health, American Liver Foundation and the pharmaceutical industry. She has published over 100 original scientific articles, review articles, and book chapters on the subject of autoimmune and cholestatic liver disease and its complications.
Disclosures
Consultant/advisory board: CymaBay, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Ipsen, Intra- Sana, Mallinckrodt and Mirum
Research/grants: CymaBay, Genfit, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Ipsen, Intercept, Mirum and Target RWE
Dr Andreas Kremer
Andreas Kremer is the Head of Hepatology at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland. Professor Kremer is internationally recognized as a clinician, educator and researcher in liver disease. His translational, clinical and experimental research is focused on molecular mechanisms of immune-mediated and cholestatic liver disease including symptom burden such as fatigue and pruritus, fibrogenesis and development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Prof. Kremer has been awarded several national and international research prizes including the Schering-Plough of the Dutch Society of Gastroenterology. His scholarly work has been cited more than 6,500 times (h-index: 42), according to Google Scholar, and he is a member of editorial boards for various journals. He served as a chair for several national and international guidelines, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Association for the Study of the Liver (SASL) and Chair of International Forum for the Study of Itch special interest group for systemic pruritus.
Disclosures
Consultant, advisor and Speaker fees: Abbvie, Advanz, Alentis, AlphaSigma, AstraZenca, Avior, Bayer, BioNTech, CymaBay, Eisai, Escient, Falk, FMC, Gilead, GSK, Guidepoint, Intercept, Ipsen, Mirum, Medscape, MSD, Myr, Roche, Takeda and Viofor.
Mo Christie
Mo was diagnosed with PBC in 2007 and has had 2 liver transplants. She began volunteering for the PBC Foundation following her second transplant in 2013 and joined the staff full-time in January 2023. Mo’s background is Policing, Information & Communications Technology, Service Support and Delivery, she left Police Scotland with almost 34 years’ service before joining the PBC Foundation. She is extremely passionate about patient support and advocacy ensuring that the patient voice is represented at all levels within the PBC community. Working closely with our partners Mo also assists with project management and ensures promotion of the patient experience. Mo is committed to supporting and empowering PBC patients around the world.
Disclosures
None to declare
