SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

Gideon Hirschfield 
MA, MB BChir, FRCP, PhD 
Hepatologist
Lily and Terry Horner Chair in Autoimmune Liver Disease Research
The Autoimmune and Rare Liver Disease Programme, Toronto General Hospital
Toronto, Canada

Dr. Gideon Hirschfield holds a Lily and Terry Horner Chair in Autoimmune Liver Disease Research and is an internationally trained clinician scientist committed wholly to discovery and translational sciences in liver disease. With undergraduate and clinical training, and practice, spanning the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London, Birmingham and Toronto, his drive is for the identification and implementation of effective, personalised therapies for patients with immune and inflammatory mediated liver diseases, delivered through innovative platforms and based on cutting-edge laboratory science.

He is recognised globally as a thought leader in liver medicine and recognised by his patients as being a patient centred clinician expert. With experience in tertiary Hepatology care (pre, peri-, and post-transplant) for already nearly 15 years. He provides world class opinion and direction on the management of patients with liver disease. He has published nearly 200 times on Pubmed and has papers spanning basic science, clinical science and clinical trials. He is recognised leader in Hepatology and well respected speaker and educator.

Hin Hin Ko 
MD, FRCPC, FAASLD, AGAF 
Clinical Professor 
St. Paul’s Hospital 
Vancouver, BC

Dr. Hin Hin Ko is a Clinical Professor at University of British Columbia and is part of the Digestive Health Centre of BC.  She is a hepatologist and gastroenterologist based at St. Paul’s and Mount Saint Joseph hospitals.

She completed her Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and subsequently received her MD degree from the University of Toronto. She then completed her residency in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at UBC.  With her strong interests in liver diseases, she completed a year of fellowship in Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Toronto.  Her special interests are autoimmune liver disease, viral hepatitis, and MASLD.  Besides clinical work, she has a strong passion in clinical research and teaching.  

Alnoor Ramji MD FRCP(C)
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine 
Gastroenterology and Hepatology 
Division of Gastroenterology 
University Of British Columbia 
Vancouver, BC

Dr. Ramji is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, practicing at the St. Paul’s hospital site.  He completed his Internal medicine and Gastroenterology fellowship training at the University of British Columbia, and thereafter undertook a Hepatology fellowship at the University of Toronto.   

His area of clinical and research interest includes viral hepatitis and Metabolic associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).  His center is involved in investigator-initiated and Clinical Studies in MASLD, Hepatitis B, C and immune/ cholestatic liver disease.  Other research interests include identification, linkage to care of persons and implementation science of models.  

Dr. Ramji also coordinates multiple provincial education programs.  He is a co-founder of the Canadian MASLD Network (CanMASLD).  He is on the Steering committee for the national CanHepC clinical group.  He is a co-author for the Canadian Guidelines in HCV, HBV, MASLD chapter of Diabetes Canada guidelines and guidance on MASLD 

Sammy Saab, MD
Medical Director, Pfleger Liver Institute
Medical Director, Adult Liver Transplant Program at UCLA
Director, Metabolic Fatty Liver Disease
Chief, Transplant Hepatology at UCLA
Head, Outcomes Research in Hepatology at UCLA
Professor of Medicine and Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor of Nursing, UCLA School of Nursing
Los Angeles, California

Dr. Saab is a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and an adjunct professor of nursing at the UCLA School of Nursing. He is currently the medical director of the UCLA Adult Liver Transplant Program, medical director of the Pfleger Liver Institute, and the chief of Transplant Hepatology. Dr. Saab is also the head of Outcomes Research in Hepatology. He has been on the faculty at UCLA for over two decades.  

Dr. Saab received his BS, MD and MPH degrees from UCLA. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California at San Diego Medical Center and a fellowship in gastroenterology/hepatology at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences. Dr. Saab is board eligible in gastroenterology and internal medicine, and board certified in transplant hepatology. He has received honorary fellowships from the American Gastroenterology Association (AGAF), American College of Gastroenterology (FACG) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD).