Date of event
Continuing Education Credits
Content Contributors
- American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
- AASLD COVID-19 Clinical Oversight Subcommittee
- AASLD Alcohol-associated Liver Disease SIG
Presenters
- Brenda Curtis, PhD, MsPH
NIH / National Institute on Drug Abuse - Andrew Moon, MD, MPH
University of North Carolina, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Moderators
- Pranoti Mandrekar, PhD, FAASLD
University of Massachusetts Medical School - Ashwani K. Singal, MD, MS, FACG, FAASLD
University of South Dakota
Panelist
- Elizabeth C. Verna, MD, MS
Columbia University Medical Center
Details
Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is the leading etiology for end-stage liver disease, acute-on-chronic liver failure, and need for liver transplantation. Alcohol use is the most important modifiable risk factor for ALD.
Since February-March 2020, Covid-19 pandemic has altered lifestyle across the world including the US, which includes healthcare. Apart from general effects of COVID-19 pandemic on care of ALD patients, social distancing and many other factors have impacted patient behavior including alcohol consumption.
Attendees of this webinar will:
- Recognize the impact of COVID-19 on alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder (AUD)
- Learn the impact of COVID-19 on the frequency and severity of ALD in both pre- and post-transplant settings.
Attendees can submit their COVID-19 questions in advance via this survey. Our experts will select a few questions to discuss during the webinar. Questions must be received by Tuesday, December 8, 11:59 am ET. Once the deadline passes, you can submit your questions directly to the speakers during the live webinar, time permitting.
Presenter Bios
Brenda Curtis, PhD MsPH
Dr. Curtis earned both a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Illinois and subsequently obtained her doctorate in communication from the University of Pennsylvania, where she most recently held the appointment of Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Addictions at the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Curtis also completed a fellowship at the Fordham University HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute. Before joining NIDA IRP, she was the PI of a NIDA-funded R01 award (DA039457) entitled “Predicting AOD Relapse and Treatment Completion from Social Media Use” in which she used social media data to predict alcohol and other drug relapse and treatment completion among patients who have recently entered community outpatient treatment programs. She has also served as a co-investigator on several R01 NIAAA, NCI, and NIDA funded projects including a placebo-controlled trial of bupropion for smoking cessation in pregnant women in which we are using SMS text messaging to promote medication adherence; a multi-modal intervention on the use of a “smart” pillbox to promote medication adherence among non-adherent patients; a study examining the accuracy of smartphone breathalyzers; and a study examining the impact of a smart-phone based continuing care “app” for alcohol dependence. Her training in public health and health communication allows her to employ a public health approach while using effective communication techniques to ensure recruitment and retention rates are achieved.

Andrew Moon, MD, MPH
Dr. Andrew Moon is a transplant hepatology fellow at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Moon has an interest in outcomes research with a focus on hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic encephalopathy and COVID-19 in chronic liver diseases. Dr. Moon created and serves as co-principal investigator of the AASLD-endorsed SECURE-Cirrhosis international registry. SECURE-Cirrhosis has collaborated with COVID-Hep from Europe to collect data on over 1000 COVID-19 patients with chronic liver disease and post-liver transplantation. This collaboration has published findings on patients with chronic liver disease and post-liver transplantation in Journal of Hepatology and Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
