The NAFLD Research Center brings together multiple specialties and specialists at UC San Diego School of Medicine and elsewhere:
Claude Sirlin, MD, Professor of Radiology and Director of Liver Imaging Group, Department of Radiology
David Brenner, MD, Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences, Dean of the School of Medicine and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology
Michael Karin, PhD, Distinguished ​Professor of Pharmacology and Ben and Wanda Hildyard Chair for Mitochondrial and Metabolic Diseases
Karen Nelson, PhD, President, J. Craig Venter Institute
Bernd Schnabl, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, provides expertise on pre-clinical studies in NASH and microbiome and its role in liver fibrosis
Tatiana Kisseleva, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, provides expertise on pre-clinical studies in NASH and NASH related fibrosis
Ariel Feldstein, MD, Chief of Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition in the Department of Pediatrics and at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego. He is a leading expert in the role of apoptosis in liver injury especially in NASH. Rates of NAFLD in children are rising. The condition affects almost 10 percent of U.S. children
Edward Dennis, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and Chemistry and Biochemistry, director of LIPID MAPS Consortium
Larry Smarr, PhD, founding director of California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology and Harry E. Gruber Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
Nicholas Schork, PhD, Professor of Human Biology, J. Craig Venter Institute
Siddharth Singh, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, brings in knowledge of meta-analytic approaches to distill clinical evidence to inform practice guidelines
Marc Hellerstein, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Kinemed, Inc.
Shankar Subramaniam, PhD, Department of Bioengineering, Jacobs School of Engineering brings knowledge of systems biology to the center
NAFLD Research Center will also interface with the newly established Center for Microbiome Innovation led by Robert Knight, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Computer Science
Mark Valasek, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Cynthia Behling, MD, PhD, Associate Physician, provide expertise in human pathology
San Diego Integrated NAFLD Research Consortium