1) Dr. Bijan Eghtesad is Staff abdominal transplant surgeon at the Digestive Diseases and Surgery Institute of Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. After finishing his medical school and residency in general surgery at Shiraz university in Shiraz, Iran, he moved to Pittsburgh and did his fellowship in Adult and Pediatric Abdominal Transplant Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He then directed the transplant program at the University of New Mexico for six years before returning to Pittsburgh in 2001 to Co-Direct the Adult Liver Transplant Program at UPMC. In 2005 he moved to the Cleveland Clinic and has been involved in clinical transplantation. During his tenure, Dr. Eghtesad has authored and co-authored more than 170 manuscripts and more than 20 book chapters. He edited the book: “Surgical Procedures on the Cirrhotic Patients” for Springer in 2017. He has served as the Chair of the Surgery and Liver Transplantation Committee of the American Association for the study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), on several committees for the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS), and American Society of Transplant surgeons (ASTS). Most recently he has served as the council member and the Treasurer of the International Liver Transplantation Society.
2) Marina Berenguer, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Hepatology and Liver Transplantation Unit, La Fe University Hospital and CIBERehd, Valencia, Spain Consultant Hepatologist at La Fe University Hospital in Valencia, Spain where she is head of the Hepatology and Liver Transplantation Unit. Full Professor of Medicine at the University of Valencia, Faculty of Medicine since 2021. President of the International Liver Transplant Society in 2021-2023). Research Coordinator within a National Network Research Center in Hepatology, CIBER-EHD, and Coordinator of La Fe University Research Group “Hepatology, Hepatobiliopancreatic surgery and Transplantation”.Associate Editor in “Liver Transplantation” and “J. Hepatol” from 2010 to 2014 and Deputy Editor in “Transplantation” (2015-19) and J Hep Report (2021-2023).Recipient of several Awards, including the Medical-Scientific Award from the Liver Transplant Patient Association (2007), the Professional Career Acknowledgement granted by the Regional Government (2010), the Professionalism Award granted by EVAP- Business and Professional Association (2019) or the Prensa Ibérica Award for innovation in medical-clinical areas in 2022.
3) Dr. Nazia Selzner is a Transplant Hepatologist and Medical Director of the Living Donor Liver Transplantation at the Ajmera Transplant Center, University Health Network, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is also Scientist at the Institute for Medical Science (IMS) in Toronto, Canada. Dr Selzner graduatedfrom Medical School at the University of Paris VII, France and completed her Gastroenterology training in France. She completed her PhD in 2003 at the University of Paris VII, France, after four years of research fellowship at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC and at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Her research interest is in on mechanism of ischemia/reperfusion injury of the liver. Her clinical research is focused on increasing access to liver transplantation and LDLT. She is recipient of numerous national and international awards and has published extensively in living organ donation, transplantation, and reperfusion injury. She is the current President-Elect of the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS).
4) Koji Hashimoto, M.D., Ph.D., is the Director of Liver Transplantation at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus and Professor of Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. His areas of specialinterest are living donor liver transplantation, pediatric liver transplantation, liver transplantation using partial livers, organ preservation, and transplant immunology. He has had personal involvement in more than 2000 liver transplants, including more than 200 living donor liver transplants as of 2022. Dr. Hashimoto has been involved in many basic and clinical research projects. He has authored more than 120 manuscripts. He holds many professional memberships both nationally and internationally, including the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the International Liver Transplantation Society. He also serves as a member of various committees in these societies. He is a graduate of Kyushu University School of Medicine in Japan. He completed his surgical residency at Kyushu University Hospital and a clinical fellowship in abdominal organ transplantation at Cleveland Clinic. After his surgical training, Dr. Hashimoto joined the Cleveland Clinic Liver Transplant Program as a full-time transplant surgeon. He received the Cowan Family Endowed Chair in Living Donor Liver Transplantation in 2016. Dr. Hashimoto’s surgical career continued at Cleveland Clinic as the Director of Living Donor Liver Transplantation and Pediatric Liver Transplantation from 2017 to 2022.
