Webcast

Dr. Oni Blackstock is recognized as a thought leader and influencer in the areas of HIV and health equity. She is a primary care and HIV physician, and the founder and Executive Director of Health Justice, a consulting practice that helps health organizations to center anti-racism and equity in the workplace and reduce health inequities in the communities they serve. Dr. Blackstock recently served as an Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Health Department where she led the City’s response to the HIV epidemic. She holds degrees from Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and Yale School of Medicine and is passionate about ensuring that all individuals and communities have the resources and support they need to achieve optimal health and well-being.

Carlos Malvestutto, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Dr. Malvestutto completed his undergraduate degree at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and his master’s in public health at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his medical degree from the Ponce Health Sciences University in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He then completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, New York and his Infectious Disease Fellowship at New York University Medical Center-Tisch Hospital in New York, New York.

Dr. Malvestutto’s research has focused on cardiovascular complications of HIV as well as HIV cure strategies using broadly neutralizing antibodies. He is a member of the HIV Reservoirs and Viral Eradication  (Cure) Transformative Science Group of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and serves in the Ending the HIV Epidemic Working Group of the HIV Medical Association.

Leandro Mena, MD, MPH, is a clinician-researcher and public health advocate with expertise in the prevention and clinical management of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). He is founding chair of the Department of Population Health Science at the University of Mississippi Medical Center John D. Bower School of Population Health and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Mena also directs the Center for HIV/AIDS Research, Education & Policy at the Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute for Elimination of Health Disparities and serves as the STD Medical Director for the state of Mississippi. He is the Medical Director of the Five Points Clinic (Jackson’s public STD clinic) and co-founded Open Arms Healthcare Center (first Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender [LGBT] clinic in Mississippi). In recognition of his work developing a model program of culturally competent HIV prevention and care for Black men who have sex with men, which is being replicated in other clinics around the country, he was awarded the 2016 Achievement Award by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). Dr. Mena is board certified in infectious diseases. He is a research fellow with the Rural Center for STD/HIV Prevention (Indiana University). His interests include understanding the dynamics of HIV transmission in racial/ethnic, gender, and sexual minorities as well as the development and provision of culturally competent quality health services to these populations.

Dr. Cave is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and an assistant professor in the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She serves as the Hep C Program Lead for the UofL Hospital Hep C Center. She is the principal investigator on multiple industry-sponsored grants and is working toward gaining NIH funding. Much of her work focuses on patients with viral hepatitis infections and improving access to care and treatment, with special attention to pregnant women and people who use drugs.

Dr. Cave earned her bachelor’s degrees in biology (2003) and nursing (2005) from Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY. She worked nearly 5 years in the Transplant ICU at Jewish Hospital before graduating with her Masters of Science in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner at Bellarmine University in 2010. In 2019, she graduated from the University of Louisville with her PhD in Nursing. She received training specific to her roles in gastroenterology and hepatology through her work with medical faculty at the University of Louisville Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition.

Dr. Cave has co-authored several publications and delivered numerous podium presentations at local, state, and national conferences. She serves as a faculty presenter for the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF), Kentucky Hepatitis Academic Mentorship Program (KHAMP), Gastroenterology/Hepatology Advanced Practice Providers (GHAPP), and the Scripps Clinic Liver Research Consortium. She is a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) and serves on the Hepatology Associates Committee. As of January 2021, Dr. Cave is chair of the inaugural Research Committee for GHAPP. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau; the American Association of Nurse Practitioners; the Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives; and a former member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. She is a board member for the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition.

Dr. Ramers is the Chief of Population Health and Director of Graduate Medical Education at the Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD), a large Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) system serving nearly 200,000 medically underserved individuals throughout San Diego county. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and Addiction Medicine, and is particularly interested in HIV, HBV, HCV, and service of medically underserved, immigrant, and refugee populations. He co-chairs the California Chapter of the American Academy of HIV Medicine and has advocated for HIV/HCV care at the state legislative level. Dr. Ramers has served as a consultant for CDC- sponsored HIV/HBV/HCV educational projects in Asia and Africa. Since 2018 he has served as the Senior Clinical Advisor for the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s Global Hepatitis Program, working to eliminate HBV and HCV in seven partner countries in Asia and Africa.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ramers has taken on a leadership role in policy, laboratory, public health, research, and clinical response. He is a core member of FHCSD’s COVID-19 Response Efforts team, delivering biweekly updates to > 200 clinicians and staff. At the regional level he serves on the county Clinical Vaccine Advisory Committee and Equity task forces. He is a member of the national IDSA-CDC clinical call escalation volunteer group. He has facilitated several telemedicine forums including one on HIV care at the International AIDS Conference, a 10-week intensive telemedicine series (Telemedicine Hack) supported by HHS, and a COVID-19 outpatient therapeutics series supported by HHS and Project ECHO. Internationally, Dr. Ramers facilitates a twice-weekly Spanish-language COVID-19 virtual community of practice for Latin America and has presented at an international WHO AFRO region webinar on SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Dr. Younossi earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (Alpha Omega Alpha 1989) in Rochester, NY, USA. He completed his residency in internal medicine with a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California, USA, while earning his Master of Public Health degree from San Diego State University School of Public Health, San Diego, California, USA. He served as Staff Hepatologist and Senior Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, before establishing the Center for Liver Diseases at Inova Fairfax Hospital, which is now renowned for research related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and outcomes research in liver disease. He has served as Vice President of Research for Inova Health System and currently serves as the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation (2018-Present) and the Board of Inova Health System Foundation (2011-Present). Dr. Younossi was appointed by Governors T. Kaine and B. McDonnell of Virginia to the Board of Directors of Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority (2008-2014). He also served on the Virginia Tobacco & Health Research Repository (VTHRR), Board of Directors, America Heart Association, Mid-Atlantic Affiliate (2010-2012) and Board of the American College of Gastroenterology Institute for Clinical Research & Education (2013-Present). He has served on multiple committees for American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastrointestinal Association, and George Mason University as well as on numerous committees at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Inova Health System.

Dr. Younossi pioneered research in NAFLD and has been a leader in the field of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), economic assessment and other areas of outcomes research in liver disease. He leads a number of international efforts related to NAFLD and PROs in liver disease though global collaborations, including the Chair of Global NASH Council and the Global Liver and NASH Registries. In addition to research and administrative duties, Dr. Younossi has been actively involved in teaching students, residents, and fellows. He has also served as Chair, Director or faculty of a number of international scientific, and CME-related courses.

Dr. Younossi specializes in hepatology and gastroenterology and has authored over 510 articles, 3 books, 6 journal supplements, over 25 book chapters, and over 800 abstracts at the international scientific meetings. He is a highly sought-after speaker providing over 420 faculty lectures in national and international meetings. His academic productivity has led to an H-index of 82. Dr. Younossi also serves as the co-editor of Liver International, Associate Editor of Journal of Hepatology, and on the editorial board of a number of important medical journals. He has represented the American Association of Liver Disease and American Gastroenterological Association at different congressional meetings.

Dr. Martinez cares for patients with liver disease and addiction disorders, including opiate dependency, viral hepatitis, alcoholic and fatty liver disease, at Erie County Medical Center where he is the Medical Director of Hepatology. His clinic “La Bodega” has been recognized both nationally and internationally as a novel co- localized model for the management of viral hepatitis and addiction disorders, and has been awarded a New York State World AIDS Day Commissioner’s Special Recognition Award. The clinic has also been designated as a center for drug user health in New York State. Dr. Martinez has lectured around the world on hepatitis C management among people with substance use disorders, most recently at the International Hepatology Exchange in Amsterdam. His team’s work has been presented at the annual liver meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD); the annual conference of the International Network On Viral Hepatitis in Substance Users, and at the International Liver Congress.

His research involves improving hepatitis C treatment in populations disproportionately affected by HCV, particularly people who inject drugs. He has been a primary and co-investigator on numerous clinical trials related to new therapeutic agents for hepatitis C and fatty liver disease.

A fierce advocate, he has worked to eliminate hepatitis C treatment restrictions throughout the United States and in Europe.

Dr. Martinez is a member of the AASLD where he was recently elected to the HCV special interest group steering committee, the European Association for the Study of the Liver, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Dr. Cave is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and an assistant professor in the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She serves as the Hep C Program Lead for the UofL Hospital Hep C Center. She is the principal investigator on multiple industry-sponsored grants and is working toward gaining NIH funding. Much of her work focuses on patients with viral hepatitis infections and improving access to care and treatment, with special attention to pregnant women and people who use drugs.

Dr. Cave earned her bachelor’s degrees in biology (2003) and nursing (2005) from Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY. She worked nearly 5 years in the Transplant ICU at Jewish Hospital before graduating with her Masters of Science in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner at Bellarmine University in 2010. In 2019, she graduated from the University of Louisville with her PhD in Nursing. She received training specific to her roles in gastroenterology and hepatology through her work with medical faculty at the University of Louisville Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition.

Dr. Cave has co-authored several publications and delivered numerous podium presentations at local, state, and national conferences. She serves as a faculty presenter for the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF), Kentucky Hepatitis Academic Mentorship Program (KHAMP), Gastroenterology/Hepatology Advanced Practice Providers (GHAPP), and the Scripps Clinic Liver Research Consortium. She is a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) and serves on the Hepatology Associates Committee. As of January 2021, Dr. Cave is chair of the inaugural Research Committee for GHAPP. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau; the American Association of Nurse Practitioners; the Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives; and a former member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. She is a board member for the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition.

Dr. Ramers is the Chief of Population Health and Director of Graduate Medical Education at the Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD), a large Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) system serving nearly 200,000 medically underserved individuals throughout San Diego county. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and Addiction Medicine, and is particularly interested in HIV, HBV, HCV, and service of medically underserved, immigrant, and refugee populations. He co-chairs the California Chapter of the American Academy of HIV Medicine and has advocated for HIV/HCV care at the state legislative level. Dr. Ramers has served as a consultant for CDC- sponsored HIV/HBV/HCV educational projects in Asia and Africa. Since 2018 he has served as the Senior Clinical Advisor for the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s Global Hepatitis Program, working to eliminate HBV and HCV in seven partner countries in Asia and Africa.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ramers has taken on a leadership role in policy, laboratory, public health, research, and clinical response. He is a core member of FHCSD’s COVID-19 Response Efforts team, delivering biweekly updates to > 200 clinicians and staff. At the regional level he serves on the county Clinical Vaccine Advisory Committee and Equity task forces. He is a member of the national IDSA-CDC clinical call escalation volunteer group. He has facilitated several telemedicine forums including one on HIV care at the International AIDS Conference, a 10-week intensive telemedicine series (Telemedicine Hack) supported by HHS, and a COVID-19 outpatient therapeutics series supported by HHS and Project ECHO. Internationally, Dr. Ramers facilitates a twice-weekly Spanish-language COVID-19 virtual community of practice for Latin America and has presented at an international WHO AFRO region webinar on SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Dr. Younossi earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (Alpha Omega Alpha 1989) in Rochester, NY, USA. He completed his residency in internal medicine with a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California, USA, while earning his Master of Public Health degree from San Diego State University School of Public Health, San Diego, California, USA. He served as Staff Hepatologist and Senior Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, before establishing the Center for Liver Diseases at Inova Fairfax Hospital, which is now renowned for research related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and outcomes research in liver disease. He has served as Vice President of Research for Inova Health System and currently serves as the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation (2018-Present) and the Board of Inova Health System Foundation (2011-Present). Dr. Younossi was appointed by Governors T. Kaine and B. McDonnell of Virginia to the Board of Directors of Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority (2008-2014). He also served on the Virginia Tobacco & Health Research Repository (VTHRR), Board of Directors, America Heart Association, Mid-Atlantic Affiliate (2010-2012) and Board of the American College of Gastroenterology Institute for Clinical Research & Education (2013-Present). He has served on multiple committees for American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastrointestinal Association, and George Mason University as well as on numerous committees at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Inova Health System.

Dr. Younossi pioneered research in NAFLD and has been a leader in the field of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), economic assessment and other areas of outcomes research in liver disease. He leads a number of international efforts related to NAFLD and PROs in liver disease though global collaborations, including the Chair of Global NASH Council and the Global Liver and NASH Registries. In addition to research and administrative duties, Dr. Younossi has been actively involved in teaching students, residents, and fellows. He has also served as Chair, Director or faculty of a number of international scientific, and CME-related courses.

Dr. Younossi specializes in hepatology and gastroenterology and has authored over 510 articles, 3 books, 6 journal supplements, over 25 book chapters, and over 800 abstracts at the international scientific meetings. He is a highly sought-after speaker providing over 420 faculty lectures in national and international meetings. His academic productivity has led to an H-index of 82. Dr. Younossi also serves as the co-editor of Liver International, Associate Editor of Journal of Hepatology, and on the editorial board of a number of important medical journals. He has represented the American Association of Liver Disease and American Gastroenterological Association at different congressional meetings.

Dr. Martinez cares for patients with liver disease and addiction disorders, including opiate dependency, viral hepatitis, alcoholic and fatty liver disease, at Erie County Medical Center where he is the Medical Director of Hepatology. His clinic “La Bodega” has been recognized both nationally and internationally as a novel co- localized model for the management of viral hepatitis and addiction disorders, and has been awarded a New York State World AIDS Day Commissioner’s Special Recognition Award. The clinic has also been designated as a center for drug user health in New York State. Dr. Martinez has lectured around the world on hepatitis C management among people with substance use disorders, most recently at the International Hepatology Exchange in Amsterdam. His team’s work has been presented at the annual liver meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD); the annual conference of the International Network On Viral Hepatitis in Substance Users, and at the International Liver Congress.

His research involves improving hepatitis C treatment in populations disproportionately affected by HCV, particularly people who inject drugs. He has been a primary and co-investigator on numerous clinical trials related to new therapeutic agents for hepatitis C and fatty liver disease.

A fierce advocate, he has worked to eliminate hepatitis C treatment restrictions throughout the United States and in Europe.

Dr. Martinez is a member of the AASLD where he was recently elected to the HCV special interest group steering committee, the European Association for the Study of the Liver, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Dr. Grace Wang is a board-certified family physician at International Community Health Services, a federally qualified health center in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Wang graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She received her medical training at Cornell University Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine) in New York City and has a master’s degree in public health, also from the University of Michigan. Dr. Wang has worked in primary care and public health in New York City and Seattle.

Dr. Kowdley received his BS in Biology and Anthropology as a member of the Dean’s List at Columbia University, and his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at Oregon Health Science University and a Fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Dr. Kowdley is internationally recognized as a clinician, educator, and researcher in the area of liver disease and has presented his research on liver diseases at more than 165 national and international meetings and scientific symposia. He is the author of over 450 articles, book chapters, reviews, and commentaries in this area, with publications in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Surgery, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, American Journal of Physiology, and New England Journal of Medicine, among other professional publications.

Dr. Kowdley has extensive experience in clinical trials in all areas of liver disease, including hepatitis C, cholestatic liver disease, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and hepatitis B. He has been a principal investigator in several NIDDK-sponsored clinical trials in PBC and PSC and is a member of executive committee of the nonalcoholic steatohepatitis clinical research network (NASH CRN). Dr. Kowdley has also served as the lead investigator of several major international clinical trials in hepatitis C.

Dr. Kowdley’s laboratory program is focused on the role of iron as a co-factor in many liver diseases, including hepatitis C, hemochromatosis, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). He has developed murine models for NASH and is currently exploring the contribution of hepatic iron deposition on the severity of NASH.

Dr. Kowdley’s research program has been continuously funded by the NIDDK since 1999 in addition to several grants from foundations and scientific societies.

Dr. Lim is a Professor of Medicine and Vice-Chief of the Section of Digestive Diseases at Yale University, where he serves as Director of Clinical Hepatology and Associate Chief of Yale-New Haven Health System (YNHHS) Digestive Health. He is a graduate of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University (Chicago, Illinois, USA), and completed training in Internal Medicine at Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut, USA), and Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Stanford University (Palo Alto, California, USA). In his role at the Yale Liver Center, he conducts patient-oriented research evaluating clinical outcomes in chronic liver disease and runs an active clinical trials program examining novel investigational agents for viral hepatitis and NASH. He has held numerous leadership roles for the AASLD, AGA, and the ACG, and serves as Chair of the EPIC Gastroenterology Specialty Steering Board.

Dr. Zorumski is the Samuel B. Guze (Goo-ZAY) Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Professor of Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) in St. Louis. Dr. Zorumski is also Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Barnes- Jewish Hospital and Director of the Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research. Dr. Zorumski’s laboratory studies synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. His studies focus on short- and long-term modulation of the glutamate and GABA neurotransmitter systems, with emphasis on how these transmitter systems participate in memory and neuropsychiatric disorders. A long-standing interest concerns the mechanisms by which neurosteroids and oxysterols modulate GABA and glutamate receptors. Clinically, Dr. Zorumski is interested in the treatment of refractory mood disorders. He has published more than 340 scientific papers, five books and holds five patents. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1987.

Dr. Zorumski was named Head of the Washington University Department of Psychiatry in 1997 and Samuel B. Guze Professor in 1998. Since 1997, he has served on the Steering Committees of the McDonnell Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology and the McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience and was Director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology from 2002 to 2013. Dr. Zorumski was named founding Director of the Taylor Family Institute in 2012. In 2015, Dr. Zorumski became Chair of the Center for Brain Research in Mood Disorders. He serves on the Editorial Boards of JAMA Psychiatry and Cerebrum and served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the NIMH Intramural Research Program from 2009 to 2013. Dr. Zorumski is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American Psychopathological Association. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (Institute of Medicine) in 2012 and has previously served on the Academy’s Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders. Since 2011, he has also served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Sage Therapeutics, a publicly-traded company developing neurosteroids and oxysterols as treatments for neuropsychiatric illnesses.

C. Neill Epperson, MD, is the Robert Freedman Endowed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (CUSOM). Previously, Dr Epperson was professor of psychiatry and of obstetrics and gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, where she was also the founder and director of the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness and of Penn PROMOTES Research on Sex and Gender in Health. Dr Epperson received her medical degree at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her postdoctoral and research training in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, where she rose to the level of associate professor before joining the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr Epperson is internationally recognized for her unique clinical and research expertise in women’s reproductive behavioral health across the lifespan. Her work in sex differences related to early life stress and its impact on risk for affective disorders during periods of hormonal change has been funded by the NIMH and the Office of Research on Women’s Health. This body of work has led to a greater appreciation of the impact of childhood adversity on physiologic responses to hormonal changes across the female lifespan. Dr. Epperson’s research has been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 2 decades. She is a productive mentor and independent investigator with more than 200 peer- reviewed publications and presentations.