2021 CLA Research Grant Awarded to Dr. Hamza Yazdani

Dr. Hamza Yazdani 2022 CLA Research Grant Recipient

Yazdani

On behalf of the Community Liver Alliance and its Board of Directors, we are pleased to announce the winner of the 5th Annual Community Liver Alliance Research Grant is Hamza Yazdani, MD from the University of Pittsburgh Dept of Surgery for his research proposal “Exercise Preconditions the Liver against Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury”.

 Research is an important part of the Community Liver Alliance mission and we are proud to be able to invest in scientists and their research projects.  Our hope though this investment is to continue to inspire new therapies, treatments, and cures for liver diseases.

Questions about the CLA Research Grant Program? Contact us at (412) 501-3CLA (3252) or contact Amy Logston at amy@communityliveralliance.org.

Previous Research Grant Recipients

2021 – Dr. Hossam Abdelsamed

Epigenetic Programming in Liver Transplant Patients: A Novel tool to discover non-invasive biomarkers and understand liver tolerance mechanisms.

2020 – Samer Tohme, MD 

Mechanisms of Metastatic Progression after Liver Ischemia-Reperfusion.

2019 – Dr. Tirthadipa (Dipa) Pradhan-Sundd, PhD

Molecular mechanism of sickle cell hepatic crisis.

2018 – Allan Tsung, MD

Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Nash-Related Hepatocellular Carcin

Ask Congress to Support the LIVER Act

    Ask Congress to Support the Liver Illness Visibility, Education, and Research (LIVER) Act

    What is the Liver Illness Visibility, Education, and Research (LIVER) Act?
    The LIVER Act is a public health initiative that will help people of all ages, lifestyles, and ethnic backgrounds reduce their risk for liver cancer and related risk factors like viral hepatitis and NASH.

    Who is the LIVER Act important for?
    All liver disease can progress to liver cancer; it is estimated that 44% of individuals with chronic hepatitis B infection, 21% of individuals with hepatitis C, 4-27% of individuals with NASH, and 26% of individuals with alcohol-related cirrhosis will develop liver cancer.

    Certain communities are disproportionately impacted by liver cancer; Asian Americans are four times more likely to have liver cancer; excess liver cancer incidence and liver cancer mortality are highest among non-Hispanic Black males; U.S. Hispanics have a liver cancer incidence rate that is almost two times higher than non-Hispanic whites; Asian Americans comprise 60% of the U.S. population living with Hepatitis B, the leading risk factor for liver cancer; American Indian/Alaskan Natives have a liver cancer mortality rate almost two times higher than non-Hispanic whites.

    Why do we need the LIVER Act?
    Since 1980, the incidence of liver cancer in the United States has nearly tripled, with death rates having more than doubled.

    We know that up to 70% of liver cancer cases could be prevented by increased uptake of hepatitis B vaccination, hepatitis C cures, and lifestyle management and development of treatments for fatty liver disease.

    How will the LIVER Act address this issue?
    The LIVER Act will authorize additional funds and better coordinate interagency liver cancer, hepatitis B research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

    It will elevate liver initiatives within the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

    It will authorize funds for prevention and awareness grants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including grants for screening, vaccination, and treatment for liver cancer, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and cirrhosis of the liver.

    Don’t miss this opportunity to show the groundswell of support for the LIVER Act across the country and urge your legislators to take action.