Expert clinicians and basic scientists come together to explore emerging insights into how environmental chemicals contribute to liver disease pathogenesis. Through a series of complementary presentations, presenters highlight mechanistic and clinical evidence linking exposures—such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), per‑ and poly‑fluoroalkyl substances (PFAs), vinyl chloride, and other high‑priority environmental toxicants—to hepatotoxicity, inflammatory signaling, metabolic dysfunction, and fibrosis. Speakers integrate cutting‑edge experimental data with clinical observations to illustrate how environmental risk factors shape susceptibility to both acute and chronic liver disease.

By spanning molecular pathways, population‑level exposures, and implications for patient care, this program provides a comprehensive and forward‑looking view of the evolving intersection between environmental health and hepatology. This session brings the full weight of both clinical and basic science experts in this area, and incorporates interests at the intersection of toxicology and hepatology. 

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) represents one of the most challenging syndromes in hepatology and critical care, characterized by rapid deterioration, multiorgan failure, and high short-term mortality. This symposium explores cutting-edge strategies for managing critically-ill ACLF patients, standardizing organ failures, and translating global consensus into clinical practice. Topics include intensive care unit management, infection and immune dysfunction, post ACLF recovery, and practical implications of the 2026 European Association for the Study of the Liver Global ACLF Consensus Meeting. Presenters aim to provide actionable insights to improve outcomes and advance care for this vulnerable population.

Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a central subtype within the broader spectrum of steatotic liver disease (SLD), has emerged as the most prevalent cause of chronic liver disease globally. The rising burden of MASLD across North and Latin America reflects shared metabolic risk factors, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiometabolic disease, while also highlighting distinct regional challenges. This joint American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the Latin American Association for the Study of the Liver (AASLD–ALEH) program aims to strengthen scientific collaboration and mutual learning between the two associations by addressing critical aspects of MASLD across epidemiology, diagnostics, genetics, and health system integration. 

The program begins with an overview of current epidemiologic trends and key knowledge gaps regarding the burden of MASLD in North and Latin America, followed by discussion on the expanding role of noninvasive tests (NITs) in early detection, risk stratification, and longitudinal monitoring of MASLD. Advances in genetic determinants of MASLD susceptibility and progression are reviewed, with emphasis on ancestry-related variation and the importance of population-specific data to advance precision medicine. The session also highlights innovative efforts to implement structured MASLD care pathways within Latin American health care systems, underscoring the need for scalable, multidisciplinary, and culturally tailored approaches. The symposium concludes with an interactive panel discussion focused on building sustainable AASLD–ALEH partnerships to advance collaborative MASLD research, harmonize diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, and strengthen hepatology capacity across the Americas. Through this coordinated effort, the program seeks to establish a shared framework to address MASLD as a defining liver health challenge of our time.

Join this timely session that presents major new clinical guidelines and expert consensus documents that are shaping contemporary hepatology practice. Faculty highlight the recently released American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)/American Gastroenterological Association guidelines for the diagnosis and management of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) as well as 2 new AASLD pediatric liver transplantation guidelines addressing candidate evaluation and posttransplant management of pediatric recipients. An AASLD Expert Practice Opinion (EXPO) is also reviewed, focusing on the diagnosis and management of pruritus in patients with genetic cholestatic syndromes. Together, these documents reflect evolving standards of care across the lifespan and across rare cholestatic conditions. Presenters emphasize practical application, key updates, and areas of clinical nuance to support evidence-based decision-making in everyday practice.

Liver disease remains one of the most important comorbidities affecting people living with HIV and continues to be a leading contributor to non–AIDS-related morbidity and mortality. While advances in antiretroviral therapy have transformed HIV into a chronic condition, the burden of liver disease has expanded beyond viral hepatitis to include metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), alcohol-associated liver disease, and advanced cirrhosis. At the same time, HIV care has led the way in destigmatization, community engagement, and patient-centered research, generating care models that offer valuable lessons for longitudinal liver care.

In the context of a rapidly evolving health care and policy landscape, these gains face new challenges that may affect access, continuity, and equity of liver-related services. This session examines HIV-related liver disease across the continuum of care, including progress and remaining gaps in viral hepatitis elimination; emerging nonviral drivers of liver disease; advances in liver transplantation in the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act era; and insights from HIV care models that can inform contemporary hepatology practice.

Jointly presented by the Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B/Delta Special Interest Groups, the Women's Initiative Committee, and the LGBTQ Subcommittee, this timely and unique 2-part program focuses on updates and approaches to hepatitis B and hepatitis C prevention and care across the lifespan—from preconception to adulthood. Speakers cover important considerations for women of childbearing age living with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C preconception, including assisted reproduction considerations and updates in approaches to care for hepatitis B and hepatitis C in pregnant individuals. Other core topics include: updates in hepatitis B neonatal vaccination; pediatric treatment of hepatitis B and hepatitis C; and considerations for prevention management among LGBTQ individuals living with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C. Discussions include a patient advocate panelist, representing the patient voice.

Jointly presented by the Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B/Delta Special Interest Groups, the Women's Initiative Committee, and the LGBTQ Subcommittee, this timely and unique 2-part program focuses on updates and approaches to hepatitis B and hepatitis C prevention and care across the lifespan—from preconception to adulthood. Speakers cover important considerations for women of childbearing age living with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C preconception, including assisted reproduction considerations and updates in approaches to care for hepatitis B and hepatitis C in pregnant individuals. Other core topics include: updates in hepatitis B neonatal vaccination; pediatric treatment of hepatitis B and hepatitis C; and considerations for prevention management among LGBTQ individuals living with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C. Discussions include a patient advocate panelist, representing the patient voice.

This joint educational session of the Autoimmune and Cholestatic Liver Disease and Fibrosis Special Interest Groups examines liver stiffness as a unifying concept linking fibrosis, immune-mediated injury, and clinical outcomes across autoimmune, cholestatic, and metabolic liver diseases.
 
Part 1 focuses on the mechanistic foundations of liver stiffness, highlighting how extracellular matrix composition and collagen organization, mechanical forces within the liver microenvironment, and cellular mechanosensing and mechanotransduction pathways can influence hepatic cell behavior and disease progression. The session also explores emerging evidence of a stiffness-driven signaling contribution to fibrogenesis as well as immune activation and hepatocellular carcinoma risk, underscoring the role of mechanobiology in chronic immune-mediated and cholestatic liver disease.
 
Part 2 emphasizes the physiologic and clinical interpretation of liver stiffness, addressing how vascular flow, portal pressure, inflammation, and cholangiocyte-specific biology influence stiffness measurements obtained through noninvasive modalities. The session also explores how liver stiffness can predict clinical outcomes in autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis, and how insights from murine models of cholangiopathy inform both disease mechanisms and biomarker interpretation in human disease.
 
Together, these sessions provide learners with a cohesive framework for understanding liver stiffness beyond fibrosis alone, integrating mechanistic biology with clinical applications. Attendees will leave with a clearer appreciation of how liver stiffness reflects dynamic pathophysiologic processes, how it can be used to stratify risk and prognosis in autoimmune and cholestatic liver disease, and why it has become an increasingly important tool in the management of liver diseases.

This joint educational session of the Autoimmune and Cholestatic Liver Disease and Fibrosis Special Interest Groups examines liver stiffness as a unifying concept linking fibrosis, immune-mediated injury, and clinical outcomes across autoimmune, cholestatic, and metabolic liver diseases.

Part 1 focuses on the mechanistic foundations of liver stiffness, highlighting how extracellular matrix composition and collagen organization, mechanical forces within the liver microenvironment, and cellular mechanosensing and mechanotransduction pathways can influence hepatic cell behavior and disease progression. The session also explores emerging evidence of a stiffness-driven signaling contribution to fibrogenesis as well as immune activation and hepatocellular carcinoma risk, underscoring the role of mechanobiology in chronic immune-mediated and cholestatic liver disease.

Part 2 emphasizes the physiologic and clinical interpretation of liver stiffness, addressing how vascular flow, portal pressure, inflammation, and cholangiocyte-specific biology influence stiffness measurements obtained through noninvasive modalities. The session also explores how liver stiffness can predict clinical outcomes in autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis, and how insights from murine models of cholangiopathy inform both disease mechanisms and biomarker interpretation in human disease.

Together, these sessions provide learners with a cohesive framework for understanding liver stiffness beyond fibrosis alone, integrating mechanistic biology with clinical applications. Attendees will leave with a clearer appreciation of how liver stiffness reflects dynamic pathophysiologic processes, how it can be used to stratify risk and prognosis in autoimmune and cholestatic liver disease, and why it has become an increasingly important tool in the management of liver diseases.

This year's American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and Taiwan Association for the Study of the Liver joint community conversation program highlights updates on the current status, regional and shared challenges and unmet needs, and emerging strategies toward precision management of chronic hepatitis B.