Dr. Carolina Boni

MD, Laboratory of Viral Immunopathology, Unit of Infectious Diseases and Hepatology, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Parma, Italy

Dr. Boni is physician at the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Parma and Contract Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Parma. 

Dr. Boni’s research is mostly focused on the characterization of the immune mechanisms responsible for viral persistence and liver damage in chronic HBV infection with the final objective of developing new immune therapeutic strategies for chronically infected patients.

She has published 40 original articles (4556 citations; H index =26) and presented the results of her research in the field of hepatitis virus infections at several national and international meetings.

She provided original contributions to the HBV immune pathogenesis field, in particular for the characterization of the immunological correlates of protection in acute and chronic HBV infection and for the definition of new biomarkers to assess and predict the effect of a novel immune therapies.

Prof. Massimo Levrero

Professor of Medicine, Sapienza University, Centre de Recherche en Cancerologie de Lyon (CRCL) Lyon, France

Massimo Levrero is Professor of Medicine at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCLB1), Lyon, France, and Praticien Hospitalier in the Service d’Hepatologie et Gastroenterologie – Hopital de la Croix Rousse – Hospices Civils de Lyon. He leads a Research Unit on” Epigenetics and Epigenomics of Hepatocellular Carcinoma”, at the Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon (CRCL) – INSERM U1052 in Lyon, France. He also serves as Associate Member at the IIT – Sapienza Center for Life NanoScience (CLNS) in Rome and he is on leave of absence from the Department of Internal Medicine (DMISM) at the Sapienza University of Rome, where he had his research activity and academic practice in hepatology until 2014.

Professor Levrero trained and completed his residency at Sapienza before holding posts at the University Paris VI and the Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris. He has acted as Scientific Secretary of EASL (European Association for the Study of the Liver) and he currently presides the CSS12 study session on basic and translational research on viral hepatitis at the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS). He is a founding member and seats in the Governing Board of ICE (International Coalition to Eliminate HBV).

He is actively involved in clinical research and treatment of HBV and HCV chronic hepatitis, and he served as Network Coordinator and/or Primary Investigator in a number of research projects and clinical studies. HBV research focuses on the epigenetic regulation of cccDNA function and HBV replication, the identification of new targets for anti-¬‐viral therapy and on liver oncogenesis in HBV-¬‐ related hepatocellular carcinoma. Additional research interests include signal transduction and transcription in the liver; IFN transcriptome; chromatin modifiers in solid tumours development and progression.

Professor Levrero is the author of over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Nature Medicine, Nat Cell Biol, Nature Communications, Science, J Clin Invest, J Exp Med, Mol Cell, PNAS USA, Cancer Res, Oncogene, EMBO J, J Biol Chem, Sci Rep, Gastroenterology, J of Hepatology, GUT, Hepatology, J of Virology, Virology, J Gen Virol, J Infect Dis, Blood.

Prof. Fabien Zoulim

Medical Director of the Hepatology

Fabien Zoulim obtained his M.D. in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Lyon Medical School in 1991. He has also obtained a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology and was trained as a post-doctoral researcher at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He is Professor of Medicine at Lyon I University since 1997. He is currently Medical Director of the Hepatology Department at the Hospices Civils de Lyon, and Scientific Director of the Department of Immunology and Virology of INSERM Unit 1052 where he is leading the team on ‘Antiviral therapy of viral hepatitis’. Prof. Zoulim has served as an Associate Editor for Journal of Hepatology and is currently Associate Editor for Gut. He also served as an expert in the microbiology study section of the INSERM and is currently head of the clinical viral hepatitis study section at ANRS. He served as a Governing Board member of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). Prof. Zoulim received the William Prusoff award of the International Society for Antiviral Research. Furthermore, he has been the scientific coordinator of a European community-funded Network of Excellence on the management of antiviral drug resistance and is currently head of the ANRS “HBV cure” program in France. Fabien Zoulim is a recognised expert in the field of viral hepatitis and antiviral therapy. He has published more than 350 articles (H index 63, Web of Science).

Prof. Antonio Bertoletti

Antonio Bertoletti, MD is an expert in the field of viral hepatitis, with a specific interest in the immunopathogenesis of HBV infection. He began working in viral hepatitis as a medical student at the University of Parma (Italy). During his MD specialization (1991) in Infectious Diseases he spent two years at The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla) characterizing for the first time the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) specific cytotoxic T cell response in man. He returned to the University of Parma, where he worked in the Department of Infectious Diseases as a Clinical Scientist continuing his study of human HBV specific T cells. Dr. Bertoletti then joined (1995) the MRC Unit in the Gambia, as Senior Immunologist, to study HIV-2 specific T cell Immunity before accepting a position of Senior Lecturer at “The UCL Institute of Hepatology” at University College of London (UK) (1997). In 2006 he moved to Singapore where he was the Director of Infection and Immunity Program at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (A*STAR) until 2013 before moving, as Full Professor, at the Emerging Viral Disease Program at Duke-NUS Medical School. He also maintains an Adjunct Position at the Singapore Immunology Network, (A*STAR). He won for two consecutive terms the Singapore Translational Research Awards (2013 and 2018). In 2015 he founded Lion TCR Pte (http://liontcr.com), a biotech company developing immune- based treatments for virus-related cancers (HBV-HCC and EBV related malignancies) and chronic viral infections. This immune therapy utilizes T cell receptors engineered T cells targeting viral antigens express in cancer cells. The company has been the first to initiate and run clinical trials (Phase I and II) for the treatment of HBV-related HCC relapses in liver transplant patients and in primary HCC in Singapore and China. At present he is Chairman of the Board and major shareholder. His current research is focus on the development of new immunological based therapies (TCR- redirected T cells) for the treatment of HBV chronic infection and Hepatocellular carcinoma and on the characterization of antiviral Immunity in chronic HBV patients. In the last 6 months, after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, his laboratory has been actively involved in the characterization of SARS-COV2 specific T cell immune response (Le Bert et al, Nature 2020, 584: 457-62) in COVID-19 and SARS convalescent and healthy individuals.

Prof. Sharon Lewin

AO, FRACP, PhD, FAHMS

Professor, The University of Melbourne; consultant infectious diseases physician, Alfred Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellow.

She is an infectious diseases physician and basic scientist. She completed her medical degree and PhD in virology at Monash University in 1996 and her post-doctoral fellowship with Dr David Ho at Rockefeller University in 1999. Her research focuses on understanding why HIV persists on treatment and developing clinical trials aimed at ultimately finding a cure for HIV infection. She has also had a long standing interest in the natural history and management of HIV-HBV co-infection. She has published over 300 publications and given over 1200 major invited talks on HIV cure. She has received multiple national and international awards for her HIV-related research and community engagement. In 2014 she was named Melburnian of the Year and Clarivate Web of Science high citation researcher. She is President-Elect of the International AIDS Society and will be President in 2022-2024.

She leads a large national network funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia called The Australian Partnership in Research for Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE) which focuses on pandemic preparedness and started in Australia in 2016. Scientists from the Doherty Institute were the first to isolate and share the SARS COV2 virus outside of China and have a broad program of research focused on testing, treatments and vaccines for COVID19.

Dr Willam Delaney

William Delaney, PhD joined Assembly as Chief Scientific Officer in May 2020. Prior to joining Assembly, he most recently served as Executive Director, Biology at Gilead. During his 20-year career at the company, he headed the Viral Hepatitis & Herpes Discovery Biology Groups and served as the Research Therapeutic Area Head for HBV. He began his career as a Research Scientist, Clinical Virology at Gilead and later transitioned into Drug Discovery where he held positions of increasing responsibility. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to the development of several marketed products, including Hepsera®, Viread®, and Vemlidy® for HBV and Sovaldi®, Harvoni®, Epclusa®, and Vosevi® for HCV. He earned a BS in Biotechnology from the University of Delaware and a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the Penn State College of Medicine. In addition, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL), Department of Research & Molecular Development.

Dr. Shihyun You

Senior Director

Shihyun You, Ph.D. is a Senior Director heading HBV research at GlaxoSmithKline.  She has more than 20 years of experience in viral infectious diseases and thirteen years of industry experience in the drug discovery and development including HCV and HBV.   She earned a MS in genetic engineering from SungKyunKwan University, South Korea and a PhD on dengue virus replication from University of Kansas Medical Center.  She obtained postdoctoral training focusing on HCV with Prof. Charlie Rice at the Rockefeller University.

Andrew Valliant

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Vaillant is the Chief Scientific Officer at Replicor Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of nucleic acid chemistry, virology and drug development and is the discoverer of nucleic acid polymers (NAPs). Dr. Vaillant has authored numerous research publications, reviews, and patents on the use of NAPs in various infectious diseases. His research focuses on the development of NAPs to achieve functional cure of HBV and HDV and the role of HBsAg loss and transaminase flares in achieving functional cure of HBV. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Montreal Neurological Institute and holds a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Shahzada Khan

Dr. Shahzada Khan, a Senior Scientist at Gilead Sciences, has more than 15 years of biomedical research experience in an array of research fields including innate and adaptive immune responses to infectious agents, oxidative / nitrative stress responses, and viral / bacterial disease pathogenesis. Shahzada obtained his PhD in medical sciences from Kumamoto University Japan and postdoctoral training at Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, CA. At Gilead Sciences, he is currently involved in discovery research and development of immunotherapeutic agents for treatment of chronic HBV infection.

Dr. Ram DasGupta

Ramanuj DasGupta joined A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) in 2014 where he is now a Senior Group Leader. DasGupta obtained his Ph.D. in Developmental and Stem cell Biology at the University of Chicago followed by postdoctoral studies at the Harvard Medical School. The major focus in the DasGupta laboratory is to explore fundamental mechanisms of cancer evolution and implement “Response-driven Precision Oncology” in the clinic by utilizing next-generation, multi-omic single cell and spatial transcriptomic technologies.

Dr. Gaston Picchio

Dr. Picchio joined Arbutus Biopharma in October 2018 and serves as the Company’s Chief Development Officer. Previously, Dr. Picchio was with Janssen R&D, bringing with him over thirty years of basic and clinical experience in the field of human virology, and sixteen years of industry experience dedicated to the development of antiviral drugs including drug approvals for the treatment of HIV (etravirine and rilpivirine) and HCV (telaprevir and simeprevir). In 2015, Dr. Picchio was a recipient of the Johnson Medal for the development of telaprevir and simeprevir and combinations thereof. Prior to joining Arbutus, Dr. Picchio served in various senior management positions at Janssen R&D, including Vice President—Scientific Innovation Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, Vice President—Hepatitis Disease Area Leader and Vice President—Clinical Virology Infectious Diseases & Vaccines. Dr. Picchio also spent time in academia working at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA, on HIV and EBV pathogenesis. Dr. Picchio received a Masters in Molecular Biology from University Centro de Altos Estudios en Ciencias Exactas, Buenos Aires, and a PhD degree from University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dr. Simon Fletcher

Simon Fletcher is an Executive Director at Gilead Sciences. He received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cambridge (UK) and performed post-doctoral studies at Roche. He then moved to Anadys Pharmaceuticals where he worked on developing immunomodulatory therapies to treat chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In 2009, he moved to Roche where he led drug discovery and translational research teams working towards the development of a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Since 2012, he has worked at Gilead Sciences, where he leads a group focused on developing novel therapies for HBV and other chronic viral infections.

Dr. Oliver Lenz

Oliver Lenz, PhD is Senior Scientific Director Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at Janssen Infectious Diseases, part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. He is the global virology lead for the development of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapeutics from pre-clinical through clinical development. Prior to his work in HBV he was involved in the discovery of the HCV protease inhibitor simeprevir which he supported subsequently through clinical development until post-approval. He obtained his PhD at the University of Marburg, Germany mainly working on hemorrhagic fever viruses and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) at Grenoble, France on HIV GP41 structural biology. He is author of more than 70 peer reviewed papers.

Dr. Steve Hood

Steve Hood PHD, FRSB, GSK Senior Fellow.
Senior Scientific Director in Bioimaging at GSK

Steve Hood received a PhD in Molecular Toxicology from the University of Surrey in 1993 and joined Glaxo Group Research as an Industrial Post doc in the Molecular Biology department. 29 years and a couple of mergers later, Steve is now a senior Scientific Director in Bioimaging, responsible for the external imaging collaborations that are members of the Bioimaging Expertise Network (BEN). As part of this network, Steve is also Co-Director of the GSK Centre for Molecular Imaging (COMI) at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he works closely with Professor Stephen Boppart and his team.

In addition to his “day job”, Steve has spent most of the last 2 decades working on GSK’s diverse oligo portfolio and has supported projects ranging from inhaled SiRNAs, TLR antagonists, DMD exon skippers (Prosensa) and ASOs for TTR and HBV with Ionis. Steve was also Industrial co-lead of the IMI COMPACT consortium that ran from 2012-17 and evaluated delivery mechanisms for oligos and peptides.

Dr. Filippo Canducci

Dr. Filippo Canducci graduated in Medicine at Catholic University in Rome in 2001, specialized in Clinical Microbiology at San Raffaele in Milano where after his PhD led his independent research team until when he left academia for industry. Before transitioning to pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Canducci has obtained the National Habilitation for Full Professor in Clinical Microbiology, he was invited as lecturer and speaker in many national and international meetings, published peer-reviewed papers in many prestigious journals including The Lancet, NEJM, PNAS, Nature Comm, Science Adv, JID, EID, AIDS, J of Immunology. After an MBA, he founded two startups and was a member of the scientific board of a Small Biotech focused on antibiotic discovery. He is now Project Leader for immunology and virology assets including TLR7 and Senior Medical Director at Roche.

Dr. Collins Oduor Owino

Collins is a final year doctoral student at the National University of Singapore, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and based at the Genome Institute of Singapore. In addition, he holds a joint Master of Science degree in Infection Biology, Vaccinology, and Drug Discovery from the University of Basel (Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute) and the National University of Singapore, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science and Technology (Medical Biotechnology Option) from Maseno University, Kenya.

Collins has a keen interest in understanding the interaction between viruses and human hosts and how we can harness this information to support the development of alternative antiviral therapies. His Ph.D. thesis was on identifying novel host factors that support Hepatitis B virus infection. He looks forward to continuing studying how different viruses use our resources to make us sick during his post-doctoral training.

Dr. Cameron M. Soulette

Cameron received his PhD from University of California where he developed and applied long-read RNA sequencing methodologies to investigate transcriptome alterations associated in lung adenocarcinomas. He joined Gilead Sciences in 2020 and has contributed to several projects and publications aimed toward utilizing long-read technologies to better characterize Hepatitis B Viral integrations observed in chronically infected patients.

Prof. Simone Strasser

Associate Professor Simone Strasser is a Senior Staff Specialist in the AW Morrow Gastroenterology and Liver Centre, and the Australian National Liver Transplant Unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the University of Sydney in Sydney Australia.

She is President of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA), a member of the Executive Council of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) and a member of the Educational Committee of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA). She has a major clinical and research interest in primary liver cancer, viral hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, advanced liver disease, and liver transplantation. She is Director of Hepatology Clinical Trials at RPAH leading clinical trials of new therapies for patients with liver disease and liver cancer.

Prof.Ajay Duseja

Dr Ajay Duseja is presently working as Professor and Head in the department of Hepatology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India. He did his MBBS in 1988, MD (Internal Medicine) in 1992 and DM (Gastroenterology) from PGIMER, Chandigarh in 1996. For last more than 28 years, he is working as Faculty with focused research in the field of Hepatology.

He is Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences (FAMS), Fellow of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD), Fellow of American College of Gastroenterology (FACG), Fellow of the Society of GI Endoscopy of India (FSGEI), Fellow of Indian Society of Gastroenterology (FISG), Fellow of Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (FINASL) and Master of Indian Society of Gastroenterology (MISG).

He is currently the Secretary General of the Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (INASL). He is also the National Convener of the Indian National Association for the Study of Liver (INASL) Task Force on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and the Principal Investigator of the Indian consortium on metabolic dysfunction associated
steatolic liver disease (ICOM-D) –an on-going real-life study on NAFLD in India involving 40 centres. He is the member of the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF) NASH Committee (USA), member of Global NASH Council (USA), member of the Asia- Pacific Working Party on NAFLD and member of the Gut and Obesity in Asia (GOASIA) working group. He is also an active member of the INASL Task Force on Hepatitis C virus, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Alcohol-associated Liver disease and Drug Induced Liver Injury. He is the former Honorary Treasurer of INASL and has been the office bearer and member of various other scientific societies.

He is author of more than 375 papers in reputed international and national journals including 30 chapters in the Gastroenterology and Hepatology text books. His main areas of interest include metabolic dysfunction associated steatolic liver disease (MASLD), acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), viral Hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

He is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology (JCEH), an official journal of INASL. He is Principal Investigator of several extra-mural and intramural projects and is recipient of various international and national awards and honors.

Prof.Shridhar Iyer

A/Prof Shridhar Iyer is a Senior Consultant, Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Surgical Director and Senior Consultant in the Adult Liver Transplant Programme, National University Centre for Organ Transplantation, at the National University Hospital (NUH). He graduated from Grant Medical College, Bombay University, India in 1994. He then underwent training in Surgical Oncology at the Tata Memorial Hospital; Mumbai. He was admitted as a Fellow to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, UK in 1999. He completed Advanced Specialty training in General Surgery at the National University Hospital in 2005 and admitted as a Fellow to the College of Surgeons, Academy of Medicine of Singapore.

As a recipient of the Human Manpower Development Programme (HMDP) scholarship in 2006, A/Prof Shridhar Iyer went to pursue a Fellowship in Liver surgery and Liver transplantation at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan. He trained in different aspects of liver, biliary surgery and living donor liver transplantation. He has published over 60 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals and over 100 presentations at international meetings. His research interests are HPB diseases and different aspects of living donor liver transplantation and has secured several competitive grants.

He has a keen interest in surgical education and served as the programme director for general surgery residency programme from 2010 to 2018. He successfully led the first ACGME-I accreditation for General Surgery residency outside of United states. He Initiated, developed and designed a comprehensive surgical skills training curriculum for general surgery training.

He is the Founding Member of the Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (Singapore).

He has led several quality improvement projects in the hospital including reducing length of stay and efficient discharge processes. He has developed clinical pathways and protocols for patients undergoing liver transplantation. He has contributed actively to the development of Adult Living Donor Liver transplant programme and Donor Surgery for Pediatric Living Donor Liver Transplant at the NUH.

Prof.Geoffrey Dusheiko

Geoffrey Dusheiko, FCP(SA) FRCS, is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital and University College London School of Medicine and Consultant Hepatologist at Kings College Hospital London, in London, UK.

After earning his MBBS degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, Professor Dusheiko completed his internship at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg and his residency at Johannesburg Hospital. His fellowships were conducted at the Johannesburg Hospital Liver Unit and the National Institutes of Health, Maryland, and the University of Minnesota, USA.
Professor Dusheiko’s research interests include the management and treatment of HCV and HBV and small hepatocellular carcinoma; he has a special interest in research on viral hepatitis, especially viral genotyping, applied molecular virology, the natural history of chronic viral hepatitis and antiviral therapies. A member of several organisations, including EASL, AASLD and IASL, Professor Dusheiko is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians of South Africa, and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

He previously served as Educational Councilor on the Governing Board of EASL for 4 years and was the recipient of the EASL Recognition Award in 2014. An advisor for the UK National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, Professor Dusheiko is an author of the World Health Organization’s HBV guidelines and he was a Director of the Skipton Fund, a UK ex gratia payment scheme for patients infected with HCV through contaminated blood products. He served as interim Deputy Director of the Blood Safety, HIV, viral hepatitis and STI Division of Public Health England in 2019.

He is a co-editor of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and has previously served on editorial boards for the Journal of Viral Hepatitis, Hepatology, Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology, and Gut among others. Professor Dusheiko has authored or co-authored more than 500 articles in international peer-reviewed journals or books.

Prof.Henry Chan

Professor Henry Lik Yuen Chan a Deputy Chief Hospital Manager, Head of Department of Internal Medicine, and Head of Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology of Union Hospital in Hong Kong. He is also an Honorary Clinical Professor of Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

Professor Chan has been a key investigator in over 30 international trials on antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C, and has advised 13 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the drug development for viral hepatitis B cure. He is the global lead author in publications on peginterferon-alfa, peginterferon-lambda, telbivudine, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and tenofovir alafenamide for the treatment of viral hepatitis B. He has received numerous local, national and international research awards, including Okuda Lectureship in Asia Pacific Digestive Week in 2018. He has published over 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and is awarded Highly Cited Researcher (Cross Field) by Clarivate Analytics in 2018 to 2020 for producing multiple top 1% cited papers under Web of Science. Professor Chan is an associate editor of Hepatology International and Seminars in Liver Disease, and has served as an associate editor for Journal of Hepatology in 2014-2019. He is the chairman of the Strategic Technical Advisory Committee on Viral Hepatitis for the Western Pacific Regional Office of World Health Organization since 2015.

He is currently a Global Council Member in International Association for the Study of the Liver (IASL). He was awarded Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Hong Kong in 2008 in recognition of his professional excellence and contribution to the community.

Prof.Chan Wah Kheong

Dr Chan is Professor of Medicine at the University of Malaya and Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and the University of Malaya Specialist Centre. He is a Member of the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia and a Committee Member for the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is the Scientific Co-Chair for the Virtual Asia Pacific Digestive Week 2021. He is a member of the Asia-Pacific Working Party on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, the Gut and Obesity in Asia (GO ASIA) Workgroup, the CAP Prognosis Study Group, and the Global NASH Council. He is Associate Editor for the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, a member of the Editorial Board for Clinical and Molecular Hepatology and is a reviewer for several international journals. He has published numerous full papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented in both local and international conferences. His main area of research interest is metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease.

Prof.Kudo Masatoshi

Prof. Masatoshi Kudo, MD, PhD, studied Medicine at Kyoto University and graduated in 1978. Following this, he completed a clinical fellowship in Kobe City General Hospital followed by a research fellowship at the University of California Davis Medical Center in the USA and Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, from where he received his PhD in Medical Science in 1987. Professor Kudo is currently a Professor and Chairman at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine (since 1999) and the Executive Board Member of Kindai University.

Professor Kudo has published 1135 International scientific peer-reviewed papers in well regarded in addition to 990 domestic scientific papers. He has given 472 invited lectures in the area of his expertise on numerous occasions to international audiences. He serves as an Executive Council Board Member of the Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan (LCSGJ), Chairman of the Nationwide Survey Committee of LCSGJ, and a representative of the LCSGJ Head Office. Professor Kudo is also a Past President of the Japan Society of Ultrasonics in Medicine (JSUM) (2014-2020), Past President of the Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Association (APPLE) (2015-2017), Past President of WFUMB (2011-2013), Past President of AFSUMB (2016-2018), an Executive Board Member of the Japan Society of Hepatology (JSH), an Executive Board member of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA). He is currently a Steering Committee Member, as well as Vice Chair, of the Liver Cancer Special Interest Group (SIG), AASLD. He also serves as an Editor-in-Chief of LIVER CANCER (Karger).  He was named a “Highly Cited Researcher” in 2019, 2020 and 2021 consecutively by Clarivate Analytics in the field of “Clinical Medicine”.

His research interest is “Diagnosis and treatment of HCC”. Professor Kudo is the first author of “Consensus based Practice Guideline of HCC Proposed by Japan Society of Hepatology” published in 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2021 revised version.

Prof.Mohammad Shadab Siddiqui

Assoc. Professor Mohammad Shadab Siddiqui studies Medicine at the Wake Forest University in North Carolina, USA.  He has been with Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond since 2012.

The focus of Prof. Siddiqui’s research is the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and liver transplantation. More specifically, he is interested in the relationship between cardiovascular disease and NAFLD and how that affects patient outcomes. His research follows the natural history of the disease process as patients go from mild or early phase disease to more moderate disease to chronic liver failure (i.e. cirrhosis) and finally liver transplantation. The emphasis is better understanding what are key drivers of clinical outcomes at each of these disease states and if doctors can develop measures to not only risk stratify patients better at each stage but also develop strategies to mitigate and potentially even reverse this risk. Prof. Siddiqui and his team are therefore, focused on developing better risk stratification strategies (i.e. biomarkers) and therapeutics to help improve outcomes in patients with all stages of chronic liver disease.

Prof.Markus Cornberg

Markus Cornberg is Professor Infectious Diseases with a focus on Hepatology and Deputy Director of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology at Hannover Medical School, Germany. Since 2019, he is Clinical Director Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and Director of the Centre for Individualized Infection Medicine (CIIM). Prof. Cornberg is Medical Executive Director of the German Liver Foundation. Since 2007, Prof. Cornberg has coordinated the German guideline on the management of hepatitis B virus infection. From 2017 to 2020, he served on the Scientific Committee and Governing Board of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). He has been Associate Editor of the Journal of Hepatology since 2019.  His basic science research focus is the investigation of cellular immune responses for disease progression and treatment response in patients with viral hepatitis. Prof. Cornberg has published >250 original scientific papers as well as review articles.

Prof.Tan Seok Siam

Dr Tan Soek Siam is the Senior Consultant and Head of Hepatology Department in Hospital Selayang. She obtained her Bachelor of Medicine (MB BCH BAO BA) from Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland and subsequently practice at St James Hospital, Monaghan General Hospital and St Collumcilles Hospital in Republic of Ireland from 1991-1995. Upon obtaining her MRCP from Royal College of Physician Ireland in 1995, Dr Tan Soek Siam return to Malaysia and started practicing at Ipoh General Hospital as Clinical Specialist in General Medicine and Gastroenterology. Subsequently, she did her fellowship in Liver Intensive Care and Transplantation at Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College Hospital, London in 2000-2001.
She is the Chairperson for the Working Committee for Medications Gastro and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary of Ministry of Heath( since 2015), a trainer in Hepatology Subspecialty Training programme (since 2003), and a National Advisor in Hepatology for Ministry of Health since 2005. Dr Tan Soek Siam is also a member of the Expert Panel of Specialist Service “ Ask the Expert” at MyHealth Portal, and a member of Specialty Subcommittee for Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the National Credentialing Committee . She is the President-elect of Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2016-2018), a council member of College of Physician, Academy of Medicine, Malaysia and is a founding member of hepatitis Support Group ( 2014). Dr Tan Soek Siam is also active internationally. She is a member of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) ACLF Research Consortium (AARC), member of the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in Asia Pacific (CEVHAP), and was a member of International Organizing Committee Kyoto Asian Pacific Association of the Study of the Liver Disease Scientific Meeting in 2007.
Dr Tan has been invited as speaker at over 18 international meetings, and had published over 80 papers, 24 full articles in peer review journals and presented more than 50 abstracts locally and internationally. She has been actively involved in both Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) or Industry Sponsored Research ( ISR). She has conducted over 29 ISR , either as Principle Investigator at the Site, National Principle Investigator or as a Co-Investigator.
Dr Tan’s main area of interest is viral hepatitis B and C, decompensated and critically ill chronic liver diseases, acute liver failure , acute-on-chronic liver failure, and liver transplantation.

Dr. David E. Kleiner

Dr. Kleiner received his Ph.D. in 1986 in chemistry and his M.D. in 1988 from the University of Chicago. His graduate work focused on purification of Trichomonal secondary alcohol dehydrogenases, their kinetic characterization, and suicide inactivation. He came to the NIH as a resident in anatomic pathology and after completion of his training, he joined the surgical pathology staff where he has cultivated his interests in the pathology of liver disease, transplantation pathology, and the biochemical mechanisms of tumor cell invasion.

The focus of Dr. Kleiner’s research includes the objective evaluation of pathologic changes following therapy and prediction of disease outcome based on histological parameters. In the absence of an effective therapy or vaccine, it is important to be able to predict not only which patients may expect to benefit from therapy but also which patients are likely to progress more quickly to cirrhosis. Using a multivariate regression model, we have determined clinical and histologic factors that predict short-term progression of fibrosis.

Dr. Kleiner is currently participating in two multicenter clinical networks focused on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. These two efforts: the NASH Clinical Research Network and the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery will provide both cross-sectional and longitudinal data that will allow evaluation of prognostic factors in fatty liver disease, which may be present 20 to 25% of the U.S. population. Dr. Kleiner is the reference pathologist for the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN). This is an NIDDK-sponsored clinical research network interested in prospective evaluation and investigation of drug-induced liver injury (DILI)is one of the main reasons for removal of drugs from the market. Dr. Kleiner performs blinded reviews for the network and provides information on liver injury classification and detailed histologic descriptive data that is being correlated with individual drugs.

Dr. Loey Mak

Dr Mak received her medical education at The University of Hong Kong. She obtained her qualification of the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom in 2013 and the Postgraduate Diploma in Infectious Diseases by The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong in 2015. She completed her specialty training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in year 2018 and Advanced Internal Medicine in year 2019 at Queen Mary Hospital.

Dr Mak’s research interests include clinical and translational research of liver diseases, especially in the field of chronic viral hepatitis, fibrosis assessment and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in reputable journals, with >50 being first-authored/ co-first authored articles. Highlights include 3 first-authored or co-first authored original articles and 1 review article in Journal of Hepatology (impact factor 30.083), and 2 original articles in Hepatology (impact factor 17.298). She is appointed as Honorary Research Fellow of The Centre for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London since Jan 2022 to conduct research in the field of HBV immunology.

Dr Mak has received numerous academic awards, including the Dr Kate Cheng Memorial Prize for Postgraduate Diploma in Infectious Diseases, the Best Abstract in Clinical Medicine in the Medical Research Conference organized by The University of Hong Kong in 2017, 2019 and 2020, and 2021, the Young Investigators Award in the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology 3rd Clinical Forum on Inflammatory Bowel Disease in 2018, and the travel award for the 7th Annual Meeting of Asian Organization of Crohn’s & Colitis. She was also awarded the Faculty Knowledge Exchange Award by Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong in 2019. She won the Young Investigator’s Award in the 30th Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, and the Distinguished Research Paper Award by the Hong Kong College of Physicians in year 2020. She is awarded with the Croucher Foundation Fellowship for 2021/2022. Her research paper was awarded with the Faculty Outstanding Research Output Award by The LKS Faculty of Medicine in year 2021 and the Lo Ying Shek Chi Wai Foundation Award for Young Investigator 2020-2021. She was awarded with the Young Investigator Bursary by the European Association for Study of the Liver in year 2021 and 2022.

Dr Mak is the principal investigator and co-investigator for numerous projects funded by externally-competitive grants. She is currently the honorary treasurer for The Hong Kong Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (HKASLD).

Prof. Jonathan Karn

Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, School of Medicine
Director, Case Center for AIDS Research
Professor, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine
Member, Population and Cancer Prevention Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

HIV persists in the face of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) due to constitutive low-level replication in sites that are poorly accessible to drugs and the development of latent infections in a variety of types including the long-lived memory CD4+ T cell population, macrophages, and microglial cells in the brain – cells that play a critical role in neurologic dysfunction and neurotoxicity.  Although HAART has greatly extended survival to patients infected with HIV-1, current therapy has failed to decrease the prevalence of HIV-neurological diseases especially in individuals who abuse drugs.

Dr. Sriram Narayanan

Senior Research Fellow

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR

Singapore
Research focused on innate immune responses in chronic viral infection, specifically on natural killer (NK) cell response and function in chronic HBV.
Research in immunology focused on the biology of IgE producing B cells in human allergic diseases. Also studying the role of other myeloid cells as helpers in regulating class switching to IgE in human atopic diseases.

Dr. Katie Kitrinos

Senior Vice President Preclinical Research and Development at Assembly Biosciences, Inc.

After an extensive career leading virology research and antiviral clinical development programs, I have impacted pre-clinical development and regulatory communications, marketing, commercialization, and 2nd- and 3rd-generation development. I am adept at preparing and delivering high-impact presentations to global audiences, as well as interfacing with clinicians, advisory boards, and key investigators. I have proven to be highly effective in performing hands-on studies, as well as directing scientists conducting research initiatives.

Dr. Prof Peter Revill

Professor Peter Revill is a Senior Medical Scientist at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) and a lead of the Global Health cross-cutting discipline at the Doherty Institute. Peter’s work is focused on the molecular virology of hepatitis B virus (HBV), particularly the contribution of different HBV genotypes and variants to the striking differences in natural history, disease progression and treatment response observed globally. Peter holds honorary appointments as Principal Research Fellow in the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Pathology at the University of Melbourne, and is an adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Monash University. Peter is also President of the Australian Centre for Hepatitis Virology (ACHV).

Dr. Mark Anderson

Principal Scientist, Abbott

My work as a microbiologist contributes to our understanding of how diseases impact their hosts, research which brings us closer to treating and preventing deadly infections. I possess expert technical knowledge of life sciences systems and excel at learning new technologies and research topics. As a scientist, I am also skilled at analyzing data, working collaboratively, and communicating my findings to experts and non-experts.

Dr. Gavin Cloherty

Gavin A. Cloherty, Ph.D., is head of Infectious Disease Research and the Pandemic Defense Coalition for Abbott’s diagnostics business. He provides scientific leadership in the area of infectious disease diagnostics by conducting groundbreaking clinical studies on SARS-CoV-2, hepatitis and HIV and developing new diagnostic tests. As one of the top experts in the field, his innovative research is changing the way infectious diseases are being diagnosed to help improve patient outcomes.

Recently, Gavin led efforts to establish the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition, a first-of-its-kind, industry-led initiative that has brought together 15 academic and public health organizations located around the world to support early detection and rapid response to pandemic threats. The Coalition is actively hunting, tracking, analyzing and researching numerous pathogens of public health concern in member countries.

Gavin has more than 20 years of experience with Abbott and leads a team of scientists in the study of the viral diversity of HIV and hepatitis. His expertise is sought after globally through his established partnerships with commercial organizations, ministries of health, government agencies and academic institutions, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health’s AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) and Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN). He has worked with the Republic of Georgia to help eradicate hepatitis C in the country, and is looking to expand these efforts to other regions of the world severely impacted by this disease.

Dr.Klaus Kuhlbusch

MD, MSc with extensive global and local experience in pharmaceutical industry in medical and commercial roles
★ Key indications include oncology/hematology, rheumatology, respiratory, dermatology, transplantation
★ Key roles include local medical advisor, global communication manager, global brand manager, global medical director and head of global medical affairs for biosimilars

Dr. Carey Hwang

Dr Carey Hwang Senior Vice President, Clinical Research, Head of Chronic Infection Vir Biotechnology, Inc.

Carey Hwang serves as Senior Vice President, Clinical Research, for Vir Biotechnology, where he is responsible for the company’s chronic infection clinical development portfolio. Since joining Vir in January 2021, Carey has overseen the development of the Vir lead hepatitis B candidates, VIR-2218 and VIR-3434, as well as its lead HIV vaccine candidate, VIR-1111.

Carey has focused his career on the study and development of treatments for serious infectious diseases, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. His industry career began at Bristol Myers Squibb, conducting exploratory clinical and translational research focused on early-phase clinical development of HIV and hepatitis C treatments. He joined Merck & Co. in 2016, where he served as Executive Director and Product Development Lead in Global Clinical Development – Infectious Diseases and led the worldwide development and approval of two treatments for HIV.

He received his bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Princeton University and his MD and PhD from West Virginia University with a dissertation focused on retroviral recombination. He completed his internal medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship at Vanderbilt University with research focused on the latent reservoir of HIV.

Dr. Scott Balsitis

Senior Director, Hepatitis B Cure Research at Gilead Sciences

Ph.D. team leader with 20 years experience in immunology and development of vaccines and therapeutic small molecules and monoclonal antibodies. Extensive background in pharmaceutical and vaccine development, with emphasis on immunology, virology, and oncology. Reputation for scientific creativity and ability to bring novel drug candidates from concept to clinic. Leadership experience including leading cross-functional project teams, collaborations with external partners, and direct oversight of PhD and non-PhD research staff.

Dr. Wong

Dr Wong is a Consultant specialising in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Changi General Hospital, Singapore. He graduated completed his post-graduate residency training in SingHealth, Singapore, and was certified by the Specialist Accreditation Board of Singapore in 2018.

Dr Wong’s research interest is in portal hypertension, liver cirrhosis, viral hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Dr Wong completed his Master of Clinical Investigator in 2021 and was awarded the nurturing Clinician Scientist Scheme from Medicine ACP, SingHealth the same year on his research in personalizing management for liver cirrhosis patients. His has received awards for his research work and was the recipients for the AASLD abstract awards both in 2022 and 2023.

Dr Wong is also a keen educator and has mentored medical students and residents for their research career. He received the senior educator awards in 2020 and 2022, as well as the Outstanding mentor award by the Singapore Medical Association Charity Fund in 2023. Dr Wong currently holds the appointment as a clinical assistant professor in Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.

Prof. Tan Chee Kiat

Senior Consultant
Specialty: Gastroenterology ＆ Hepatology
Sub-specialties: Hepatology, Liver Cancer, Liver Transplantation, Viral Hepatitis

Conditions Treated by this Doctor:
Abnormal Liver Tests, Autoimmune Hepatitis, Fatty Liver Diseases,  Hepatitis B,  Hepatitis C, Liver Cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma), Liver Cirrhosis, Liver Fibrosis, Liver Transplantation, Metabolic Liver Disease, Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH),  Viral Hepatitis.

Prof Tan Chee Kiat graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore in 1984.  He became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom [MRCP (UK)] in 1989 and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh [(FRCP (Edin)] in 1998.  He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore in Gastroenterology [FAMS (Gastroenterology)] since 1995. He has trained in Hepatology and Liver Transplantation at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.  He is a fully trained gastroenterologist and besides General Hepatology, his areas of interests are Liver Cancer, Viral Hepatitis and Liver Transplantation. He has set up a nationwide web-based database for hepatocellular carcinoma.