Research

As members of the faculty of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, members of the Liver Diseases Faculty Practice Associates are dedicated researchers as well as physicians. In fact, we treat research as a major part of our professional lives.

Currently, staff members of the Liver Diseases Faculty Practice Associates are conducting vital new research that promises to improve patient care. This includes studying new antiviral drugs to treat chronic hepatitis B and C; new nonsurgical approaches to the treatment of liver cancer; new methods for diagnosing liver fibrosis (scarring) without the need for liver biopsy; better defining the natural history of biliary cirrhosis; investigating new compounds and techniques to treat fibrosis, and strategies to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Management of viral hepatitis in liver and kidney transplant patients is also a major area of our research, as well as treatment of viral hepatitis inpatients who also have HIV infection.

Our research is enhanced by the quality of the academic environment at Mount Sinai, our vast experience in treating patients with liver disease, and our day to day interactions with our colleagues in Hepatology and other specialists within the Medical Center.

An increasingly important cause of liver disease is a reaction from a drug or herbal product and our faculty members are experts at recognizing and treating this problem.

Another important diagnostic problem are those cases where patients are discovered to have liver masses that are revealed upon ultrasound, CAT scan or MRI. We are expert in determining whether such masses are benign or malignant using the latest technologies, all readily available at Mount Sinai. If treatment is necessary, one of our medical team will direct it.

Patients of our Faculty Practice are frequently offered the opportunity to learn and participate in clinical trials of new techniques and therapies for liver disease. Many forms of liver disease are best evaluated initially by a liver biopsy.

Our research is supported by a number of sources, including highly prized grants from the National Institutes of Health, as well as extensive support from individuals and private foundations.

Our findings are shared with physicians worldwide through publication in peer-reviewed medical journals. The result is that we are able to deliver tomorrow’s medicine today.

Because of the superb reputations of our world-renowned liver specialists and their colleagues, patients frequently travel to The Mount Sinai Medical Center from long distances for accurate diagnosis and careful, coordinated treatment of liver diseases and related disorders.