Hong You, MD, PhD, professor at the Liver Research Center, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, in Beijing (China). She is the Vice President of the Chinese Society of Hepatology, Chinese Medical Association. She has been the principal investigator in 3 recent studies involving hepatitis, liver fibrosis, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and has numerous articles and book chapters in medical journals addressing liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) carries one of the highest short-term mortality rates in hepatology, yet the therapeutic armamentarium has changed little in four decades. In response, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) consolidated its alcohol-associated hepatitis consortia into the Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis Network (AlcHepNet), a coordinated multi-center translational and clinical network designed to accelerate biomarker development, generate natural-history data, and test integrated treatment strategies for AH and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

This Community Conversations session brings AASLD attendees into direct dialogue with AlcHepNet leadership. Three fifteen-minute presentations will review the published evidence the network has generated to date, describe the ongoing ITAALD integrated-therapy trial, and outline concrete opportunities for the broader hepatology community — investigators, clinicians, trainees, advocacy partners, and patients — to engage with, contribute to, and benefit from AlcHepNet. A moderated audience Q&A will close the hour.

Liver fibrosis is a key determinant of liver-related morbidity and mortality across a broad spectrum of chronic liver diseases, including MASLD/MASH, viral hepatitis, and alcohol-related liver disease. Recent years have witnessed remarkable progress in non-invasive assessment tools, including serum biomarkers, imaging technologies, artificial intelligence–assisted risk stratification, and multi-omics approaches, which are transforming the screening, diagnosis and monitoring of liver fibrosis. At the same time, emerging anti-fibrotic therapies and disease-modifying treatments are creating new opportunities for preventing fibrosis progression and improving patient outcomes.

This interactive session will bring together international experts from AASLD and CHESS to discuss the latest advances in non-invasive fibrosis assessment, emerging therapeutic strategies, and challenges in translating scientific discoveries into clinical practice. The discussion will highlight current evidence, unmet clinical needs, and future directions for precision medicine in liver fibrosis.

Disseminate the Harmonization efforts that have resulted in key statements that will inform clinical practice and clinical trial design.