The 2026 Transplant Course—jointly presented by American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society—is a premier international educational forum for transplant surgeons, hepatologists, and multidisciplinary transplant professionals.

Bringing together globally recognized faculty, the course offers expert-led sessions and case-based discussions focused on contemporary clinical practice, ethical and regulatory considerations, and emerging innovations in liver transplantation. Key topics include: living donor and donation after circulatory death (DCD) transplantation; equitable organ utilization; outcomes optimization; and the responsible integration of new technologies. Organizers aim to provide attendees with practical, actionable insights to enhance patient-centered care, strengthen transplant program quality, and contribute to the evolving future of liver transplantation worldwide.

Session 1: Living Donor Liver Tranplantation      
Session 2: Transplant Oncology   
Session 3: When to say no to the Prospective Liver Transplant Recipient   
Session 4: Controversies and Challenges in Organ Transplantation Beyond Liver          
Session 5: Wellness of the Transplant Team

This workshop highlights the evolving landscape of cirrhosis diagnosis and management, and explores how these changes are reshaping clinical research. Faculty challenge the traditional approaches to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening, and portal hypertension assessment and management. Presenters discuss the evolving concept of cirrhosis recompensation with a focus on implications for clinical trial design, end points, and patient stratification. Faculty provide a forward-looking view of cirrhosis research and address key research questions that need to be addressed in the near future. The workshop includes 3 breakout sessions where attendees have the opportunity to interact with experts in smaller groups to discuss clinical research topics of interest, including: (1) noninvasive tools for the management of portal hypertension; (2) recompensation in alcohol-associated liver disease; and (3) the future of HCC screening. 

This workshop highlights the evolving landscape of cirrhosis diagnosis and management, and explores how these changes are reshaping clinical research. Faculty challenge the traditional approaches to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening, and portal hypertension assessment and management. Presenters discuss the evolving concept of cirrhosis recompensation with a focus on implications for clinical trial design, end points, and patient stratification. Faculty provide a forward-looking view of cirrhosis research and address key research questions that need to be addressed in the near future. The workshop includes 3 breakout sessions where attendees have the opportunity to interact with experts in smaller groups to discuss clinical research topics of interest, including: (1) noninvasive tools for the management of portal hypertension; (2) recompensation in alcohol-associated liver disease; and (3) the future of HCC screening. 

The spatial organization and zonation of the liver are fundamental to its functions and ability to repair and regenerate. Disruption of this spatial organization during inflammation and injury impairs hepatic function contributing to chronic liver diseases. Recent advances in spatial multi-omic technologies now allow researchers to visualize how gene expression and cellular pathways vary across hepatic zones, revealing how structural context governs metabolic specialization, regenerative capacity, and disease susceptibility.

This 2-part workshop brings together leading experts applying these technologies to investigate the liver in health and disease. Presentations encompass the mechanisms that preserve tissue organization and support repair to the cellular interactions driving fibrosis and metabolic dysfunction. Attendees learn how spatial transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic, and epigenomic analyses are redefining our understanding of liver biology and opening new avenues for biomarker discovery and therapeutic innovation.

The spatial organization and zonation of the liver are fundamental to its functions and ability to repair and regenerate. Disruption of this spatial organization during inflammation and injury impairs hepatic function contributing to chronic liver diseases. Recent advances in spatial multi-omic technologies now allow researchers to visualize how gene expression and cellular pathways vary across hepatic zones, revealing how structural context governs metabolic specialization, regenerative capacity, and disease susceptibility.

This 2-part workshop brings together leading experts applying these technologies to investigate the liver in health and disease. Presentations encompass the mechanisms that preserve tissue organization and support repair to the cellular interactions driving fibrosis and metabolic dysfunction. Attendees learn how spatial transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic, and epigenomic analyses are redefining our understanding of liver biology and opening new avenues for biomarker discovery and therapeutic innovation.

Effective communication is a core component of hepatology care. Yet teams may struggle with complex conversations about prognosis, goals of care, and end-of-life planning. This workshop provides advanced training for clinicians across the hepatology workforce (trainees, advance practice practitioners, physicians) in communicating with adults with serious illnesses affecting the liver (decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma) and their caregivers. 

This workshop integrates focused didactics with small group, simulated encounters. Participants break into small groups and review standardized patient cases that build progressively on core skills: delivering serious news, responding to emotion, managing uncertainty, and eliciting goals and values. Facilitators with expertise in palliative care, hepatology, and medical education provide real-time, supportive feedback to help participants translate communication techniques into practice.

Back on the schedule as long as they'll have us, "Wait Wait...Don't DILI!" returns, this time for its N=4. Created by the Hepatotoxicity Special Interest Group, this unique session format features 3 scientific talks, each only 5 minutes long, followed by 10 minutes of discussion. Speakers are introduced by limericks. We have audience engagement with Slido and a celebrity interview. Prizes include custom mugs. All is based (loosely) on "Wait Wait...Don't tell me!", the NPR radio news quiz show. We learned a lot last year. Our celebrity interview will be interspersed with science.

The diagnosis and management of autoimmune hepatitis in children have remained largely unchanged for decades. Jointly planned by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, this informative session highlights advances in immunophenotyping and biomarker discovery, and explores emerging approaches to the management of refractory disease, and autoimmune hepatitis in special pediatric populations.

This workshop aims to empower early learners and faculty at all levels to build leadership and business skills for a successful career. Presenters aim to provide the audience with a toolkit for the common skills sets that hepatologists apply in everyday practice but for which no formal training is received.

This update, planned in partnership with the American Gastroenterological Association and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, provides the hepatology specialist with guidance on endoscopic innovations and challenges in managing patients with liver diseases.