National MASLD Symposium Speakers

Jeffrey V. Lazarus (PhD, MIH, MA) is a Professor of Global Health at the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Policy. He also holds positions as a research professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic, where he leads the health systems research team, and as an affiliated professor at the University of Copenhagen WHO collaborating centre on patient perspectives on medicine.

His decade-long career as health systems, HIV, and viral hepatitis expert at WHO Europe was followed by three years (2009-2012) as a senior specialist at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, three years as director of Health Systems Global (2012-15) then board chair of the foundation AFEW International (2015-18).

Prof Lazarus is the chair of the Healthy Livers, Health Lives coalition, formed by AASLD, ALEH, APASL. EASL and SOLDA and he is on the leadership committee of the Global NASH Council. He is the Principal Investigator (PI) of 10 active projects and trials and is the author of more than 400 publications.

His work includes leading the NAFLD public health consensus statement (Nature Reviews GastroHep 2021), the new fatty liver disease nomenclature, published in 3 society journals (2023), the global research (J Hepatology 2023) and action priorities (Hepatology 2023), the expert recommendation on NAFLD models of care (Nature Reviews GastroHep 2021), the fatty liver disease-Sustainable Development Goals score (Hepatology 2023), and the Global COVID-19 Consensus Statement (Nature 2022), and he is a co-author of the EASL NAFLD patient guideline (JHEP Reports 2021) and the Lancet GastroHep Commission on Viral Hepatitis (2024).

He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Hepatology and Liver International. In 2023, he co-chaired the EASL SLD Summit and the Liver Connect NAFLD Summit. In 2017, he was a recipient of The Economist Intelligence Unit Change Maker award, given in recognition of significant contributions to the global elimination of hepatitis C, and in 2023 the American Liver Foundation Distinguished Scientific Achievement award.

View the presentation slides here.

Dr. George is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Senior Research Fellow in Nutrition and Dietetics at Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN). Ranked among the top 0.6% of researchers globally and the #1 Australian Dietitian in fatty liver disease, she is also in the top 2% worldwide for nutrition therapy and the Mediterranean diet. Her research focuses on the practical application of dietary patterns for preventing and managing chronic diseases such as metabolic liver disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

With over 10 years of experience in clinical research and private practice, Dr. George’s work emphasizes translating research into practice, especially through evidence-based lifestyle management. She also aims to address healthcare workforce limitations by developing simple, protocolized dietary interventions that can be implemented by other professionals. Her internationally recognized research includes sociocultural adaptations of diets for multicultural groups, pioneering improved dietary interventions for chronic disease prevention and management.

View the presentation slides here.

Professor Adams (MBBS, FRACP, PhD) is a Consultant Hepatologist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and lead of the Liver Research Group in the Medical School, University of Western Australia (UWA).  His research interests focus on clinical and translational aspects of MAFLD and non-invasive assessment of liver disease where he has >200 research publications.

He is currently leading two national MRFF funded clinical trials to optimize the detection of advanced liver disease in primary care. He is chair of the GESA consensus steering committee for the assessment of fatty liver disease in primary care, and has served on numerous journal editorial boards, faculties and committees within GESA, the Australian Diabetes Society, Cancer Council Australia, the American Gastroenterology Association and American Association for the Study of Liver Disease.

View the presentation slides here.

Associate Professor Jessica Howell MBBS(Hons) FRACP PhD MSc(Epi) PGDip(PH) FGESA is a gastroenterologist/ hepatologist, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow and Head of the Hepatitis B and Liver Cancer research group in the Department of Gastroenterology, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne/ University of Melbourne and Burnet Institute. She is also Chair, Gastroenterology Society of Australia (GESA) Liver Faculty (2023-2026).

She combines clinical, basic science and public health expertise in translational research projects in liver cancer and viral hepatitis, focused on marginalised populations. She currently leads several multi-centre studies in rapid point-of-care diagnostics in viral hepatitis, biomarker development in liver cancer, health systems research and international health programs for viral hepatitis in low resource settings. She is a technical advisor to the World Health Organisation.

View the Symposium presentation slides here.

Isabella Simon is a highly motivated junior researcher who has an immense passion for liver disease research following her own lived-experience. Following her diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis in 2015 at age 16, and subsequent liver transplant in 2019 at 20 years of age, Isabella pursued a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts, where she was awarded First-Class Honours in Pharmacology and commenced her PhD with Monash University in 2023. Isabella’s experience with chronic illness has motivated her to pursue research that primarily focuses on improving pharmacological therapies for people with liver disease. In the very early stages of her career, Isabella has already authored 2 original research articles (1 published Oct 2023; 1 manuscript in review) with the intention of increasing this number throughout her PhD. Throughout her journey with chronic liver disease, Isabella developed strong relationships with her clinicians and surgeons which she continues to nurture with her ongoing medical appointments. As both a patient-consumer and advocate, Isabella has a strong focus on translating pre-clinical findings into clinical outcomes. As such, Isabella introduced her team at the Liver Transplant Unit, Austin Hospital, to her PhD research team which provide an invaluable link between pre-clinical and clinical contexts.

Jane has worked in public health advocacy and policy since the mid-1980s covering the risk factors of tobacco, diet, weight and alcohol. She heads the Food for Health Alliance, a leading advocacy agency working to reduce diet-related disease nationally and alcohol and healthy diet programs at Cancer Council Victoria. Her role incudes developing the strategic advocacy and policy research agenda for the programs as well as coordinating public education and advocacy campaigns on healthy weight and alcohol use.

Jane’s career has involved extensive engagement with policy and advocacy-oriented research to advance regulatory reform around tobacco, diet and alcohol control policies. She is experienced in both researching and applying advocacy strategies to encourage governments to adopt evidence-informed public health policies.

Jane is a past Board Member of Sexual Health Victoria and the Immediate Past President of the Australia New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS). She has been recognised for her contribution to public health advocacy with an Honorary Doctorate by Deakin University and travelled on a Churchill Fellowship to study successful strategies for the adoption of policies to improve diets. In 2019 was honoured with the Public Health Association of Australia President’s Award.

View the presentation slides here.

Associate Professor Paul Gow has spent the last 30 years involved in various aspects of liver health and disease, as a Gastroenterologist and Liver Transplant Specialist at the Austin Hospital and in private practice. He investigates and treats all gastroenterological disorders and has particular interest in liver disease (viral hepatitis, fatty liver disease and auto-immune liver diseases).

Paul has published over 170 peer-reviewed research articles and supervised numerous PhD projects. He authored the book Liver Better Life, which debunks misconceptions about liver health and offers practical advice. Paul is dedicated to excellence in patient-centered care.

View the slides from Paul and Elaine’s combined presentation here.

Elaine Montegriffo is CEO of LiverWELL. A visionary, purposeful leader with extensive senior executive leadership and board governance experience across sectors and cultures, and a passion for collaborating to create a better world. Elaine has held executive leadership roles with Oxfam and Australian Red Cross and is a passionate advocate for equitable access to human rights, especially healthcare. Elaine serves on the Victorian Board of the Medical Board of Australia and on the Board of GenWest, supporting multicultural communities in the west of Melbourne to live safe, healthy lives.

Following her diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer and the subsequent treatment, Naveena decided to re-evaluate her life and focus on matters that are important to her. She describes it as changing from being career ambitious to being life ambitious ie. wanting to utilise her varied skills and knowledge in assisting others to achieve better health outcomes. In her previous (corporate) life, she was a senior professional with extensive strategy, research, M&A and management skills across a range of industries – dairy, trustee, funds management and private health insurance.

Naveena has an M. B. A. from Melbourne Business School and is a consumer representative of Eastern Health, Breast Cancer Network Australia, Breast Cancer Trials, Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Cancer Council Victoria and Monash University to name a few.

Jane has worked in public health advocacy and policy since the mid-1980s covering the risk factors of tobacco, diet, weight and alcohol. She heads the Food for Health Alliance, a leading advocacy agency working to reduce diet-related disease nationally and alcohol and healthy diet programs at Cancer Council Victoria. Her role incudes developing the strategic advocacy and policy research agenda for the programs as well as coordinating public education and advocacy campaigns on healthy weight and alcohol use.

Jane’s career has involved extensive engagement with policy and advocacy-oriented research to advance regulatory reform around tobacco, diet and alcohol control policies. She is experienced in both researching and applying advocacy strategies to encourage governments to adopt evidence-informed public health policies.

Jane is a past Board Member of Sexual Health Victoria and the Immediate Past President of the Australia New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS). She has been recognised for her contribution to public health advocacy with an Honorary Doctorate by Deakin University and travelled on a Churchill Fellowship to study successful strategies for the adoption of policies to improve diets. In 2019 was honoured with the Public Health Association of Australia President’s Award.

View the presentation slides here.

Jo is an independent consultant, non-executive director of the Cancer Council and adjunct associate professor at the Universities of Sydney and NSW. Formerly the policy lead for population health in NSW, her professional expertise is policy and the delivery of state-wide services and programs and she has significant experience in policy-relevant research. Jo is passionate about prevention, equity and evidence informed strategy that drives health outcomes. She has degrees in science, nutrition and public health. In 2018 she was awarded the Public Service Medal for her contribution to population health policy in NSW.