I am director of the Liver Disease Research Branch in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition. As such, I oversee a research portfolio that examines the major causes of liver disease—including acute and chronic hepatitis C, hepatitis B, hepatitis D (delta), primary biliary cirrhosis, autoimmune hepatitis, hemochromatosis, drug-induced liver disease, pediatric cholestatic liver diseases, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
My responsibilities also include management of a clinical research portfolio. This research includes long-term studies of the natural history and pathogenesis of hepatitis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, drug-induced liver disease, cirrhosis, and autoimmune liver diseases, clinical trials of promising new treatments, and pilot studies of innovative therapies. My work supports advancement of the Branch’s goals, which are to find the primary causes of liver diseases, to identify the factors that contribute to their progression, and to develop safe and effective means for their prevention and treatment.