Webinar: Fatty Liver and Cardiovascular Disease: Partners in Crime? by European Atherosclerosis Society

About This Webinar

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is a common condition and it is projected to become the first cause of liver transplant in Europe and United States. The disease comprises a spectrum of conditions from steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis and ultimately to cirrhosis and cancer. Interestingly, NAFLD also strongly coexists with dyslipidemia and individuals with NAFLD often present with cardiovascular disease. In this webinar the speakers will report on the current knowledge of NAFLD focusing on the cardiovascular risk aspects. The presentations are given by three front-line researchers in the field.

Programme

16.30-16.35 Welcome address - Olov Wiklund

Chair: Olle Wiklund, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

16.35-16.50 Non-Alcohol Fatty Liver Disease: basics and risk for cardiovascular disease

Christopher Byrne, University of Southampton, UK

16.50-17.05 Is NAFLD inevitably associated with CVD: lessons from human genetics

Stefano Romeo, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

17.05-17.20 Old and emerging therapies for NAFLD

Luca Valenti, University of Milan, Italy

17.20-17.30 Q&A and discussion with the audience

Presenters

Christopher Byrne

Professor

Professor Byrne trained as a clinical scientist in the UK and the US, at Cardiff, Cambridge and Stanford Universities and undertook a PhD studying liver lipid metabolism at Cambridge University. After a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University and then an MRC fellowship at Cambridge University, Prof Byrne was appointed in 1999 to the Chair of Endocrinology & Metabolism at the University of Southampton and was inaugural Director of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at Southampton.

Prof Byrne is a Metabolic Physician, is currently Principal Investigator within the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, has published over 350 publications related to metabolic syndrome and NAFLD, was a former recipient of the Dorothy Hodgkin prize for research excellence related to diabetes, and was the expert diabetologist advisor to the NICE NAFLD Guidelines.

Olov Wiklund

Chair, Professor Emeritus

Olov Wiklund is a Professor Emeritus at the Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University of Gothenburg, and previously head of the Department of Cardiology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and head of the Wallenberg Laboratory for Cardiovascular research in Gothenburg.

He was a member of the writing group for the EAS/ESC Guidelines for dyslipidaemia 2016 and 2019. He is a previous vice-president of EAS and has held several positions in national and international organizations in the field of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular prevention. His main research interest is dyslipidaemia in cardiovascular disease with a focus on the interaction between lipoproteins and the vascular wall as well as treatment and prevention. He is currently editor for the EAS ACADEMY.

Stefano Romeo

Professor

Stefano Romeo has initiated his work on human and molecular genetics of lipids at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, USA in 2005. In 2009 he has moved to University of Cambridge, UK for a Clinical Lectureship in Endocrinology until 2011.

He is now Professor in Molecular and Clinical Medicine at University of Gothenburg and adjunct Professor at University Magna Graecia, Catanzaro Italy. He is also senior consultant and directs the Lipid Clinic at the Cardiology Department of Sahlgrenska University Hospital

Luca Valenti

Associate Professor

Luca Valenti graduated in Medicine in 2000 and Specialized in Internal Medicine in 2005 at the University of Milan. He was then fellow at the Diabetes Research Center at Columbia University, NY and the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Milan, where he is now Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the Department of Pathophysiology and
Transplantation, University of Milan. He manage a hepatology and internal medicine outpatient service and coordinates clinical and translational research at the Translational Medicine Unit, Department of Transfusion Medicine and Hematology at the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Policlinico Hospital in Milan.

His main research interests are metabolic and genetic liver diseases, with a special focus on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and iron metabolism disorders. He is a member of the EASL Scientific committee and Editor-in-chief of Liver International.