AASLD President's Press Conference

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

AASLD President's Press Conference

Saturday, November 5, 2011 – 4:00-5:00 pm

Room 2011, Moscone West Convention Center

San Francisco, California

AASLD President T. Jake Liang, MD, will host a press conference on the first full day of presentations at The Liver Meeting®, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Dr. Liang will highlight individual studies and themes from the 2300 abstracts to be presented at this year's meeting from the leading researchers in the field. He has selected to review 10 abstracts in advance of their actual presentation in scientific sessions for the benefit of the media:

The Growing Burden of Mortality Associated with Viral Hepatitis in the United States, 1999-2007
	Scott Holmberg, et al. Tuesday, Nov. 08 – 10:45 AM Room: 2011
The Cost-Effectiveness of a Telaprevir-Inclusive Regimen as Initial Therapy for Genotype 1 Hepatitis C Infection in Individuals with the CC IL-28B Polymorphism
	Ziad Gellad, et al. Monday, Nov. 07 – 8:00 AM Room 3000-3012
A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Oral Silymarin (Milk Thistle) for Chronic Hepatitis C: Final Results of the SYNCH Multicenter Study
	Michael Fried, et al. Tuesday, Nov. 08 – 8:00 AM Room 3000-3012
Diagnosis and Clinical Consequences of Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Orthotopic Heart Transplant Recipients
	Robert de Man, et al. Sunday, Nov. 06 – 8:00 AM Room 3000-3012
Reactivation of Hepatitis B Infection Among Patients with Cancer
	Jessica Hwang, et al. Monday, Nov. 07 – 3:00 PM Room 2002-2004
The Mediterranean Diet: Improvement in Hepatic Steatosis and Insulin Sensitivity in Individuals with NAFLD
	Marno Ryan, et al. Monday, Nov. 07 – 4:45 PM Room 2005-2007-2009
The First Monotherapy Therapeutic PBC Study in a Decade? An International Study Evaluating the Farnesoid X Receptor Agonist Obeticholic Acid in PBC
	Kris Kowdley, et al. Tuesday, Nov. 07 – 8:00 AM Room 3000-3012
Towards Cell Biased Therapy for Alpha 1-antitrypsin Through Targeted Bi-Allelic Gene Correction in Human iPS Cells
	S. Tamir Rashid, et al. Monday, Nov. 07 – 11:00 AM Room 3000-3012
Enoxaparin Prevents Portal Vein Thrombosis (PVT) and Decompensation in Advanced Cirrhotic Patients: Final Report of a Prospective Randomized Controlled Study
	Eric Villa, et al. Monday, Nov. 07 – 8:00 AM Room 3000-3012
A Randomized Controlled Study of Radiofrequency Ablation and Surgical Resection for Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinomas Less Than 4 cm in Diameter
	Ma Kuansheng, et al. Monday, Nov. 07 – 8:00 AM Room 3000-3012

About Dr. Liang

Dr. Liang is a tenured senior investigator and the Chief of Liver Diseases Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

He graduated from Harvard College in 1980 and received his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1984. He completed his internal medicine residency training in New York University/Bellevue Hospital Center, and fellowship training in gastroenterology and hepatology in Massachusetts General Hospital. He was a faculty member and assistant professor of medicine in Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In 1996, he moved to the intramural program of NIDDK as the Chief of Liver Diseases Section and later was promoted to the Chief of Liver Diseases Branch.

Dr. Liang conducted pioneering research in the field of viral hepatitis that includes identifying and characterizing various HBV variants, defining a novel genetic element of hepatitis B virus, elucidating the biological functions of HBV X gene, developing in vitro systems to generate HCV-like particles for vaccine development, establishing culture systems for production of infectious HCV virus, creating transgenic mouse models to study hepatitis C, identifying important genetic markers in the outcome of HCV infection and treatment response, and discerning key steps in the pathogenesis of viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. He has published over 200 scientific papers and edited numerous books.

Dr. Liang has been an Associate Editor for the two leading journals in the GI specialty, Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and to the Association of American Physicians, which are the honorific organizations of America's academic medicine. He was the recipient of the British Liver Scholar Award, the Leon Schiff Lectureship, the Edward W. Morrow Lectureship, the Bruce Witte Distinguished Lecture Award, the NIDDK Nancy Nossal Scientific Mentorship Award, and NIDDK Director's Award.

AASLD is the leading medical organization for advancing the science and practice of hepatology. Founded by physicians in 1950, AASLD's vision is to prevent and cure liver diseases. This year's Liver Meeting®, held in San Francisco, California, November 4 – 8, will bring together more than 8,000 researchers from 55 countries.

A pressroom will be available from November 5 at the Annual Meeting. For copies of abstracts and press releases, or to arrange researcher interviews, contact Gregory Bologna at 703-299-9766.

Press releases and all abstracts are available online at www.aasld.org.

SOURCE American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases