The Distinguished Achievement Award is given to an individual in honor of his or her sustained scientific contributions to the field of liver disease and the scientific foundations of hepatology. The award honors a sustained contribution rather than a single discovery or major achievement.
Arun J. Sanyal, MD, FAASLDDr. Arun Sanyal has developed, mediated and encouraged liver research globally as a physician scientist for 25 years. His research has focused on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and the complications of end-stage liver disease with a particular focus on the translation of scientific discovery towards development of better diagnostics and therapeutics for patients with liver disease. He has published 398 scholarly papers with a Hirsch index of 100 and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for 24 years. Dr. Sanyal has chaired the hepatobiliary study section of the NIH and leads the NIDDK NASH Clinical Research Network and the FNIH NIMBLE consortium. He has served as President of the AASLD and led the development of the core curriculum for training in hepatology that served as the foundation for establishment of national standards in training. By creation of the Liver Forum, he has also accelerated development of therapeutics for NASH globally. His work and leadership has been recognized by several awards and earlier this year received the Virginia Outstanding Scientist Award for his deep commitment to the betterment of human health globally via science, education and policy.
The Distinguished Clinician Educator/Mentor Award is given in honor of the sustained service of clinician educators to AASLD or the liver community in general. The award recognizes the skills of outstanding clinicians and educators who have made momentous contributions to hepatology over an extended period.
Patrick S. Kamath, MDDr. Patrick Kamath is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Educator and an AGA Distinguished Educator. His major research area has been identifying patients at risk for mortality in cirrhosis and other liver diseases. Dr. Kamath played a key role in developing the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) which is used worldwide as a prognostic score for liver disease and in allocation of organs for liver transplantation. He has also authored over 200 publications including contributions to the New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, HEPATOLOGY, and Nature Genetics. He has received 10 Teacher of the Year awards from Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education and four from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in his more than two decades of teaching. In 2016, he received the Lifetime Teaching Award for Excellence from the Department of Medicine at Mayo. Dr. Kamath has shown true dedication to educating the next generation of physicians who will further advance this work.
The Distinguished Service Award is given to an individual in honor of his or her sustained service to AASLD or the liver disease community in general. The award recognizes service provided to the community of hepatology researchers and clinicians over an extended period; service that is well above and beyond that provided by many members who serve on the Governing Board and Committees of AASLD.
Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, MD, FACP, FAASLDDr. Di Bisceglie has spent his career involved in the development of new therapies for chronic hepatitis and authored nearly 400 publications on the subject of viral hepatology and liver disease. He has been a member of AASLD since 1989, attended every annual meeting since 1984 and has served the association in a number of capacities including Chair of the Clinical Research Committee, Public Policy Committee and a number of abstract selection committees. He has also been co-organizer of three AASLD single topic conferences on Hepatocellular Carcinoma, new therapeutic agents for hepatitis C and End-Points in Clinical Trials for Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Dr. Di Bisceglie served as associate editor of HEPATOLOGY from 1991 to 1995 and as a member of its editorial board. He was elected to the Nominating Committee in 2001 and to the AASLD Governing Board in 2010 during which time he was instrumental in establishing the AASLD Foundation. Dr. Di Bisceglie ultimately served as AASLD President in 2014.
