Brief Bio (9/16/2025)
Michael Krowka MD

Dr Krowka received his MD at the University of Nevada, Reno in 1980 with a subsequent internal medicine residency at Northwestern University and pulmonary subspecialty training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. He joined the staff of the Mayo Clinic in 1986. He holds joint appointments with the Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine and the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology.
He has served on the Medical Scientific and Advisory Board of the Alpha1 Foundation (1996-99 and 2005-2007)

Ponni V. Perumalswami, MD, MS, FAASLD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Alcohol Liver Disease Program
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
University of Michigan

Director, VA Liver Clinic
Gastroenterology Section
VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System
Investigator, Center for Clinical Management and Research VA HSR

Limas Kupcinskas is a Professor of Medicine at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences in Kaunas. He trained in Gastroenterology under Dr Jonas Simanauskas, at Kaunas University Hospital, Dr Richard Mountford, at the Bristol Royal Infirmary England, and Dr Ali Keshaverdzan, at Loyola University, Chicago, USA. In 1992 (till 2018) he was elected a head of Department of Gastroenterology at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. In 2011 (till 2022) he becomes a head of the Institute for Digestive Research at the same university.

Thomas Vanwolleghem is professor of Hepatology at the University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Belgium, where leads the Viral Hepatitis Research Group. His main research focus is on virus-host interactions and the improvement of clinical outcomes in viral hepatitis infections. Apart from viral hepatitis, his clinical research interests focus on the diagnosis and treatment of portal hypertension, as co-PI of the Antwerp Hepatic Hemodynamic laboratory. He is a senior clinical researcher for the Research Fund of the Flemish government.

Education Director, The Korean Association of Clinical Ultrasound
Feb. 1993-1999 : Medical Degree, Yonsei University,Wonju College of Medicine, Korea
Feb. 2003-2015 : Master of Medicine, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
Aug. 2010-2012 : Doctor of Medicine, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
Sep. 2014-2016 : post-Doctor Research Scholar, Medicine, Columbia University, New York, USA.
Sep. 2016- : Professor, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea

Professor, division of gastroenterology and hepatology, department of internal medicine, Soonchunhyang college of medicine, Soonchunhyang university Bucheon hospital, South Korea
Director of academic affairs, The Korean Association of Clinical Ultrasound

I am professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Haeundae Paik Hospital Inje University College in Busan, Republic of Korea. I am a member of several societies including Korean Association of Internal Medicine, Korean Association for the Study of the Liver, Korean Liver Cancer Study Group, Korean Society of Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. I am interested in the clinical research of viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, and HCC.