Dr Jean-Michel Pawlotsky is Professor of Medicine at the University of Paris-Est. He is the Director of the Department of Virology at the Henri Mondor University Hospital in Créteil, France, and Director of research team “Viruses-Hepatology-Cancer“ at the Mondor Institute of Biomedical Research (INSERM U955). He focuses on teaching and research in virology (primarily hepatitis viruses) and liver oncology.

Dr Pawlotsky earned his medical degree in Hepatology and Gastroenterology in 1992. In addition, he earned a Thesis in molecular virology from the University of Paris, France, and he is a graduate in virology from the Pasteur Institute in Paris and microbiology from the University of Paris. Dr Pawlotsky has been acting as the Secretary General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) between 2005 and 2009. He is in charge of the Young Investigators program at the National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis/Emerging Infectious Diseases (ANRS). Dr Pawlotsky has been an Associate Editor of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), between 2001 and 2006, and an Associate Editor of Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), between 2011 and 2016.

Dr Pawlotsky’s noted career contributions include the publication of over 650 articles and book chapters in his areas of expertise and over 900 invited lectures at international and national meetings.

Dr. Norah Terrault is a transplant hepatologist and Professor of Medicine, Neil Kaplowitz endowed Chair of Liver Diseases Research and Chief of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases at the Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California. Dr. Terrault has focused her clinical and research activities on viral hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, with specific focus on patients with cirrhosis and liver transplant recipients. In addition to multiple clinical trials related to preventing and treating chronic hepatitis viral hepatitis and fatty liver, Dr. Terrault has been PI on multiple NIH-funded studies, including the current NIH-supported HBV clinical research network (HBRN), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis clinical research network (NASH CRN) and Liver Cirrhosis Network (LCN). She has authored over 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts, editorials, invited reviews as well as US national guidelines for treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C and reproductive health. Dr. Terrault is a Councilor on the AASLD governing board and will serve as president in 2023.

Johan Neyts (www.antivirals.be) is professor of Virology at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium where he teaches virology. His lab has a long-standing expertise in the development of antiviral strategies against various viruses, including HCV and emerging and neglected viral infections such as dengue, Chikungunya, enteroviruses, rabies, HEV… Since 2020 the team made major contributions to research on SARS-CoV2. A second focus of the lab is the development of a novel vaccine technology platform technology based on the yellow fever vaccine virus as a vector. Four classes of antivirals discovered in his laboratory have been licensed to major pharmaceutical companies (against HCV, dengue, enteroviruses and RSV). Johan is a past-president of the International Society for Antiviral Research. He published ~630 papers [H-index: WoS 76 – Google Scholar 98], gave ~300 invited lectures and hundreds of lay-press interviews.

Mala Maini is a Professor of Viral Immunology in the Division of Infection and Immunity at UCL, London and a Consultant Physician in the viral hepatitis clinic. Her lab researches liver immunity and immunopathology, focusing on cellular interactions in the liver niche. By dissecting the immune correlates of viral persistence versus control, the Maini lab contributes to the development of novel immunotherapeutic strategies for hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma. Mala was awarded Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Awards in 2013 and 2019 and elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2016. Work in the Maini lab is also funded by the Cancer Research UK, EU Horizon 2020, Medical Research Foundation, NIHR, UKRI, British Infection Association.

Josep M. Llovet, MD, PhD is Professor of Medicine – Hepatic Oncology at University of Barcelona, Professor of Research-ICREA in the Liver Unit, IDIBAPS-Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and Director of the Liver Cancer Program and Full Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York and Director. Professor Llovet obtained his degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Barcelona in 1986 and his PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1995.
Professor Llovet has been President, Secretary and Founder of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA) Chairman of the European Clinical Practice Guidelines of management of liver cancer (EASL-EORTC), President of the AASLD-SIG of Hepatobiliary neoplasia and member of the Educational Committee of EASL. He has published more than 335 articles in peer-reviewed journals (total citations 131,899, total impact factor 8,221.9; h index 138-Google Scholar), > 55 chapters of books, and has delivered more than 620 lectures. He is Senior Editor of Clinical Cancer Research and has been recognized as Top-1% cited researcher in Clarivate Analytics (2014 to 2022).
He has devoted his career studying the pathogenesis and treatment of liver cancer. His clinical research contributed to the establishment of sorafenib, regorafenib, ramucirumab and chemoembolization as the standard of care in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). His group discovered novel drivers as therapeutic targets and described the molecular and inflamed classes HCC. He has received the AACR-Landon International Award (2009), the International Hans Popper award (2012), and was recognized as Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD-2015). He has received competitive funding for 95 projects, including the European Commission and the US National Institute of Health.