Juan Abraldes is a Transplant Hepatologist, Professor and Director of the Liver Unit at the University of Alberta, and the AHS hepatology lead for the Edmonton Zone.

He gained his MD in 1995 from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and got his Board Certificate in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona (2000). He did a postdoctoral training at Yale University (2003–2004).

His main interest is the diagnosis, risk prediction and management of chronic liver disease. He is the co-author of the American Association for the Liver (AASLD) Clinical Guidance for the management of varices and variceal bleeding in cirrhosis 2016, and the chair of the AASLD guidance on TIPS and endovascular therapies for variceal hemorrhage 2023. He has contributed to Baveno guidelines for the management of portal hypertension since 2005. He is associated editor of Hepatology.

Jasmohan Bajaj earned his MBBS from Delhi University at Maulana Azad Medical College. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Delhi University at Maulana Azad Medical College and an internal medicine residency at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn. He furthered his medical training with a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals, then went on to earn an MS in epidemiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD), and American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), and has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Dr Bajaj is a member of the Central Leadership team of the VA’s Hepatic Innovation Team and is the chair of the Cirrhosis Faculty Advisory Board at the Veterans Affairs.

Active in research, Dr. Bajaj has served as a principal investigator or co-investigator for numerous clinical trials and translational investigators in areas such as hepatic encephalopathy, chronic liver disease, gut-brain axis, patient-reported outcomes, and microbiome. This has led to >300 original publications in journals such as Gastroenterology, Nature, Hepatology, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet G/H, Journal of Hepatology, American Journal of Gastroenterology, and Liver Transplantation, among others. He has reviewed for Nature, Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, Hepatology among others.

Dr. Bajaj's research has been funded through the NIH, Veterans Affairs, AHRQ, and ACG and he has received continuous federal funding for >10 years. Dr Bajaj has served on several study sections across the NIH, VA, AHRQ and ACG. Dr. Bajaj is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology and has previously served as associate editor for the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Gut Microbes, Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology. He is on the editorial board of Liver Transplantation, Gut Microbes, and Journal of Hepatology.

Dr. Bajaj frequently presents his work on hepatic encephalopathy, microbiota, and chronic liver disease nationally and internationally at meetings, grand rounds, and symposia, and is a member of the Hepatic Encephalopathy Guidelines Writing Committee and is a member of the critical illness guidance committee at AASLD. He is also a member of the clinical research committee at AASLD. He heads the ACG Acute on Chronic Liver Failure Guidelines Committee. Dr. Bajaj is the Chair of the North American Consortium for Study of End-stage Liver Disease, Co PI of the CLEARED Consortium, and was the President of the International Society for Hepatic Encephalopathy

Shannon Chan is currently an Assistant Professor in the Division of Upper Gastrointestinal & Metabolic Surgery of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007. She completed general surgical training and received fellowships of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong and Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2014. Dr. Chan’s interest is in gastric and esophageal cancers, mainly focusing in the laparoscopic and robotic approach. She did her overseas training in National Cancer Centre in Tokyo, Yonsei University in Seoul and also Amsterdam Medical Centre in Amsterdam. Her research interests include upper gastrointestinal surgical oncology and advanced diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy especially in interventional endoscopic ultrasound. She also has special interests in peritoneal surface malignancy and has started a multidisciplinary team for these rare, yet important group of patients. She is a member of the stomach and duodenal diseases subcommittee of the World Endoscopy Organisation (WEO) and is a reviewer for Digestive Endoscopy and Surgical Endoscopy. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed journals.

Apart from her research interest, Dr. Chan has also devoted herself to humanitarian aid work. In 2014, she joined the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, also named Doctors without borders). MSF is an international humanitarian non-governmental organization working in war-torn and under-developed regions. Dr. Chan joined their surgical missions to South Sudan from Oct 2016 - Dec 2016 and to Yemen from Dec 2019 to Feb 2020. After her return, she has further affirmed her commitment to providing humanitarian aid to the less developed parts of the world.

Emad El-Omar graduated in Medicine from Glasgow University, Scotland, and trained as a gastroenterologist. He worked as a Visiting Scholar/Scientist at Vanderbilt University, TN, and National Cancer Institute, MD, USA, and was Professor of Gastroenterology at Aberdeen University, Scotland, for 16 years before taking up the Chair of Medicine at St George & Sutherland Clinical Campus, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He is the Editor in Chief of the journal Gut. His research interests include all aspects of the microbiome, inflammation driven GI cancer and IBD. He is the Director of the UNSW Microbiome Research Centre at St George Hospital, Sydney.

Jacob George is the Robert W. Storr Professor of Hepatic Medicine at the Storr Liver Centre, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, University of Sydney and Head of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Westmead Hospital and Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Services for the Western Sydney Local Health District.

He undertakes basic and clinical research on MAFLD, hepatitis C, liver cancer and hepatic fibrosis. He was an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hepatology (to September 2023) and is a current senior Editor for Seminars in Liver Disease (since 2022) and Journal of Hepatology Reports (from Oct 2023).

He is on the executive of the International Association for the study of Liver (IASL), was a past Executive Council member and Chair of Research for the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, a board member of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia and Chair of the Liver Faculty of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia. He has published extensively.

Kazuo Hara is specialized in pancreato-biliary diseases, Imaging diagnosis, Endoscopic diagnosis and treatment, Interventional EUS, Oncology and Chemotherapy

Educational Background
Nagoya University School of Medicine, March 1996 graduation
Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, July 2003

Professional Career
Medical staff of Toyohashi municipal Hospital, May 1996
Chief physician of department of Gastroenterology, Komaki municipal Hospital, April 2000
Chief physician of department of Gastroenterology, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, October 2001
Chief physician of department of Gastroenterology, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Nagoya, from April 2008 to 2015
Director of department of Gastroenterology, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Nagoya, from 2016

Research Field
21Century COE Research Fellow, from April 2006 to March 2008
Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Dep of Tumor biology, July 2003

Dr. Jimmy Lai graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2015 with honours. He obtained MRCP(UK) in 2018 and received training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Prince of Wales Hospital. He obtained the fellowship of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2022.

Dr. Lai is active in cirrhosis and viral hepatitis research, and has published original research papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has special interest in portal hypertension and endo-hepatology. With his research findings, he has presented in international hepatology conferences, was awarded Poster of Distinction Award in Asia Pacific Digestive Week Forum 2017, Prize for Best Original Research by Trainees in 2021 from Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, as well as Distinguished Research Paper Award for Young Investigators in 2019, Young Investigator Research Grant and Best Thesis Award (gold medal) in 2022 from Hong Kong College of Physicians. He was named Distinguished Young Fellows by Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in 2023.

Professor Young Suk Lim is the Dean of the University of Ulsan College of Medicine and a Professor in the Department of Gastroenterology, Liver Center at Asan Medical Center, South Korea.

Professor Lim graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1992 and obtained his PhD at Seoul National University in 2002. He completed the Clinical Research Training Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA in 2008.

Professor Lim was awarded the First Leading Research Achievement Award of the Korean Association for the Study of the Liver (KASL) in 2023, Emerging Leader Award by the Asian Pacific Digestive Week 2015, Taipei, Taiwan; and 3 times of official commendation by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korean Government in 2017, 2020, and 2022.

Professor Lim’s research interests include hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dr. Mak is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. She is a specialist in gastroenterology and hepatology and a clinical researcher focusing on clinical and translational research of liver diseases. She has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles in reputable journals. Dr Mak is currently an associate editor for Clinical Molecular Hepatology, editorial board member for Hepatology Communications and Frontiers in Immunology. Dr Mak has received numerous academic awards, highlights being the Emerging Leader Award by The European Association for Study of Liver in 2023 and Finalist for the Rising Star Award, Global Women in Healthcare Awards by the EMMS International and Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. She is the first Chinese woman to receive such accolade in recognition of her contribution to liver research and clinical service.

Ooi Choon Jin is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh and the Academy of Medicine Singapore. From 1998 to 2000, he trained at the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School and practices at Gleneagles and Farrer Park Medical Centres. He previously served as Chairman of the Chapter of Gastroenterologists, Academy of Medicine Singapore, President of the Gastroenterological Society of Singapore and Co-President of APDW 2011 in Singapore.

He is President of the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (APAGE) and Chair for APAGE IBD Committee. He is the President for Asian Education Network in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (AEN-IBD) and Director of the Asian Pacific Digestive Week Federation (APDWF).

Calvin Q. Pan is a distinguished Professor of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine in New York, USA. He has assumed various leadership roles within professional societies, serving as the Chair of Online Learning in AASLD, Chair of the AASLD Hepatitis B practice guidelines in 2024, and Chair of the HBV Special Interest Group.

Dr. Pan's research is centered around viral hepatitis and has dedicated his career to exploring the prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis. With a prolific academic output, he has authored 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers and abstracts. Notably, Dr. Pan has been the lead author of several original articles featured in prestigious journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Gut, and Hepatology.

Recognizing his outstanding contributions, Dr. Pan has been honored with the James D. Bruce Memorial Award in Preventive Medicine and has achieved the title of Master of ACP from the American College of Physicians

Dr. Schnabl is a trained gastroenterologist and physician-scientist. He received his MD degree from the University Freiburg in Germany. After finishing his residency in internal medicine, he completed a gastroenterology fellowship at Columbia University in New York City. He joined the Division of Gastroenterology at UC San Diego in 2008 and he is currently Professor of Medicine. He is staff physician and attending at the VA San Diego Medical Center in La Jolla and the UCSD Medical Center. He is the Director of the NIH-funded San Diego Digestive Diseases Research Center (SDDRC). His research focus is to understand the complex multi-directional interactions that occur between the gut microbiota and the liver. Dr. Schnabl has published extensively in such highly-regarded journals as Nature, Nature Communications, Cell Host & Microbe, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and he has authored multiple reviews and book chapters. Dr. Schnabl is the principal investigator of a VA Merit Award, several NIH, foundation and industry-sponsored grants. He serves as Associate Editor for Journal of Hepatology.

Professor Wai-Kay Seto is currently a specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine; Principal Investigator of the State Key Laboratory of Liver Research, The University of Hong Kong; and Assistant Dean (Research), LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong.

Professor Seto is ranked annually by Clarivate Analytics in the top 1% worldwide by research since 2020. He has published more than 280 international journal articles and book chapters, including first or corresponding-authored articles in the Lancet, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Global Health, Journal of Hepatology, Gut, and Hepatology, majority related to research on chronic liver diseases.

Professor Seto has been awarded the American Gastroenterological Association Fellowship (2021); the Asia-Pacific Digestive Week Emerging Leader from the APDW Federation (2018); Guangdong Province Outstanding Young Medical Talent Award (2017); and the Outstanding Young Research Award (2016-2017) from The University of Hong Kong.

Raymond Tang received his M.D. degree from University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine in 2004 and was selected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his internal medicine residency at University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center in 2007. He completed his gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship at University of California, San Diego Medical Center and achieved certification in gastroenterology from the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2010. Dr. Tang subsequently pursued training in advanced endoscopy with focus on EUS, ERCP and balloon-assisted enteroscopy at University of California, San Diego Medical Center in 2010 - 2011.

His clinical and research interests include advanced diagnostic and interventional EUS, ERCP, device assisted enterocsopy, and pancreatic cystic neoplasms. He has published papers and written book chapters on topics of EUS, ERCP, pancreatic cystic neoplasms and GI bleeding.

Dr. Tang is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Deputy Director of endoscopy center at the Prince of Wales Hospital, and Director of the S.H. Ho Center for Digestive Health.

Dr. Yuhao Wang received his Ph.D. and completed his postdoctoral research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. In 2020, he was named National High-level Young Scholar as well as Zhejiang University “Hundred Talents Program” Scholar. In the same year, he started his own group at the Institute of Translational Medicine at Zhejiang University School of Medicine in mainland China.

Dr. Wang is committed to exploring the interactions between host and intestinal microbiota, with a particular focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms by which the microbiota regulates host lipid metabolism. His findings were published in scientific journals such as Science, Cell, and PNAS. One of these publications was awarded “Top gut microbiota paper of the year” by the American Gastroenterological Association

Grace Wong is the Professor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2001 with honours and distinctions in 7 subjects including Medicine. In 2010, she received the Doctoral Degree of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her main research interest includes big data research in hepatology, chronic viral hepatitis, and risk prediction and risk reduction of hepatocellular carcinoma, and non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis. She has published over 460 articles in peer reviewed journals including Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology. Gut and Hepatology. She is currently the Associate Editor of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. She has been awarded for the Young Investigator Award of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver in 2009, the Distinguished Research Paper Award for Young Investigators of the Hong Kong College of Physicians in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP, 十大傑出青年) of Hong Kong in 2014, Sir David Todd Lectureship of Hong Kong College of Physicians in 2016, the Distinguished Young Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in 2017, the Emerging Leader Lectureship of the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation (JGHF), the Presidential Awards in the Global Hepatitis Summit 2021, the Richard Yu Lectureship of Hong Kong College of Physicians in 2021, the Best Reviewer Award of the Journal of Hepatology.

Sunny Wong is an Associate Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. He received his MBChB at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and his PhD in University of Oxford on genetics of bacterial infections. He completed his clinical training in gastroenterology in the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. His main research interest is on gut microbiome, investigating the host-microbe interaction in digestive and metabolic diseases, and exploring this for discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutics. He has won several awards, including the Asia Pacific Digestive Week Emerging Leaders Lectureship (2021), the Hong Kong College of Physicians Sir David Todd Lectureship (2020) and the Croucher Foundation Award (2014). He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles including papers in Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Gastroenterology and Gut, and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Vincent Wong is Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on viral hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), in particular the use of non-invasive tests for screening and diagnosis. He has authored over 500 articles in international medical journals, and his latest h index is 91. Together with the Asia-Pacific Working Party, he wrote the Asia-Pacific Guidelines on the Management of NAFLD in 2018. He is an associate editor of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics and an editorial board member of the Journal of Hepatology, Hepatology, JHEP Reports and Hepatology Communications. He served as the president of the Hong Kong Association for the Study of Liver Diseases from 2015 to 2017. His team received research awards from the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, Asian Pacific Digestive Week Federation, British Society of Gastroenterology, Hong Kong College of Physicians and the Food and Health Bureau.

Chun-Ying Wu received his M.D. degree from the National Taiwan University (NTU) in 1991, M.P.H. degree from Harvard School of Public Health in 1993, and Ph.D. degree from NTU in 2007. Prof. Wu has positions as the Director of Translational Research and Professor of Gastroenterology in Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Joint Appointment Researcher of National Institute of Cancer Research, and also Professor of Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, including National Yang-Ming University (NYMU). Prof. Wu establishes Taiwan Microbiome Consortium and currently serves as the first President in the consortium. Prof. Wu is now the Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Digestive Medicine (the joint official journal of GEST, DEST & TASL), editorial member of Gut, Vice-Secretary General of both the Gastroenterological Society of Taiwan and the Digestive Endoscopy Society of Taiwan, the executive of the Taiwan Liver Cancer Association, and the control board of the Taiwan Evidence-based Medicine Association. Prof. Wu has published many articles in top ranking journals such as JAMA, J Clinical Oncology, Gastroenterology, Gut, Hepatology, etc. Prof. Wu owns several patterns, including gastric cancer screening and hepatitis B virus quantitative detection. Prof. Wu is the winner of National Innovation Award 2016, Taiwan Institute for Biotechnology & Medicine Industry; Outstanding Research Award 2015, Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology; and Emerging Leadership Award 2015, Asia-Pacific Digestive Week. Prof. Wu also got several Best Teaching Awards from NYMU.

Prof. Wu is also very active in legal societies. He received his LL.B. degree from Tunghai University (TU) in 2000 and LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School in 2003. He is the current President of Taiwan Society of Law and Medicine and Professor of Law in College of Law at the TU. He is also the member of Medical Dispute Assessment Committee of Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), the member of Institute Review Board of the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI), the member of the Ethical Committee of many central governments’ departments, including MOHW and NHRI. His legal research interests include medical malpractice litigation and biotechnology regulation. Prof. Wu has published four law textbooks, four chapters in law books, and more than 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Prof. Wu’s evidence-based research has become the important basis of many Taiwan’s nationwide policies regarding medical malpractice.

Terry Yip is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK. Terry’s research interest is in the natural history, treatment, and risk prediction in patients with chronic liver diseases using big data methodologies.

He has over 150 publications in peer reviewed journals. He received the Young Investigator Award in 2018, 2022, and 2023 at the APASL meeting; and the Early Career Investigator Award in Clinical/Translational Science in 2020 at the AASLD meeting. He is now an Associate Editor of the Journal of Hepatology; and an Editorial Board member of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Hepatology Communications, and Hepatoma Research.

Jun Yu serves as Council Member of American Gastrointestinal Association (AGA) Oncology (2017-2018) and Council Member of AGA Microbiome and Microbial Diseases (2018-2021), USA; 中國醫學科學院學部委員；Vice-Chairman of Cancer and Gut Microbiome of Anti-Cancer Association China; Vice-Chairman of China Women Physicians Association (GI session). Her research interests being molecular pathogenesis, microbiome, diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets of gastrointestinal cancers and fatty liver disease. She has over 550 peer-reviewed publications (201 papers IF>10; 95 papers with IF > 30; ISI citation >33,200, ISI h-index=95; Google Scholar citation 54302, h-index 116). She obtained over 50 prestigious awards including The National Natural Science Award (2020 and 2016); Guanghua Engineering Science & Technology Prize China (2022); Top 10 Scientists in Global Gut Microbiome Study (2019); He Liang He Li Science and Technology Progress Award (2018); AGA Council Research Mentor Award (2017); WuXi PharmaTech Life Science Award (2017); Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2016); State Science and Technology Progress Award (2012). She is ranked top 3 in China and 162 in the world of the top 1000 female researchers in 2022 (Research.com).