Objectives

• To review population-level epidemiology of cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease with a focus on geographic distribution, recent immigrant populations, and differing levels of socioeconomic status.
• To appreciate how social determinants of health may impact a patient’s journey from the identification of the need for a liver transplant, referral to a transplant centre, being accepted on the LT wait-list, and ultimately receiving a donor organ.
• To examine access to liver transplantation based on race and gender.

Agenda

• Introduction of the webinar – Nazia Selzner
• How social determinants of health influence access to liver transplantation – Jennifer Flemming
• Overcoming the impact of race and sex on access to liver transplantation – Elizabeth Verna
• Q&A moderated by Dieter Adelmann
• Closing Remarks – Nazia Selzner

This Webinar is supported by Astellas

ILTS would like to thank Astellas for their generous support for the production of this webinar.

Astellas has had no influence on the content, and full editorial control remains the sole responsibility of ILTS.

Organizer and Moderator

Nazia Selzner is a Transplant Hepatologist in the Multi-Organ Transplant Program, Division of Gastroenterology, University Health Network, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Nazia Selzner is an Associate Scientist at the Institute for Medical Science (IMS) as well as at the Toronto General Research Institute (TGRI).

Speaker

Jennifer Flemming is a general hepatologist and clinician-scientist at the level of Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. Her research program utilizes large population-level healthcare databases in Ontario to describe the epidemiology and outcomes of patients with chronic liver diseases, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. She has a specific interest in studying under-represented populations, including women, young adults, and immigrants/refugees. Her research program has been supported by the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, Southeastern Ontario New Clinician Scientist Program, and the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research program.

Elizabeth Verna is the Frank Cardile Associate Professor of Medicine in the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation and Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases at Columbia University, where she practices as a transplant hepatologist. Dr. Verna has an active clinical research program in end-stage liver disease and liver transplantation and is the Director of Clinical Research for the Columbia University Transplant Clinical Research Center.

Moderator

Dieter Adelmann is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at the University of California, San Francisco. After a residency in Anesthesia and Intensive Care at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, Adelmann completed a liver transplant anesthesia fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. His clinical work and research focus on improving perioperative anesthesia care for patients undergoing liver- and kidney transplantation.