incbcn

This episode From the Vault comes from the Surfing NASH  coverage of the inaugural INCBCN Workshop, with Jörn Schattenberg serving as event co-founder and Louise Campbell and Roger Green moderating sessions. This episode is less a formal recap of the meeting than recollections of key moments and messages from the co-founders and Surfers.

This conversation wraps up the Surfers’ discussion of the conference. The co-hosts start with comments about pharma partners’ and patient advocates’ favorable reactions to the meeting and review many of the individual presentations. Louise shifts the focus of the conversation to the role of liver in overall metabolic wellness. Jörn notes that hepatologists are less likely to focus on liver fat as compared to fibrosis, and agrees that a broader focus on liver fat is important in the overall issue of metabolic health. The conversation ends with the group considering actions that might strengthen a successful 2022 conference when it recurs in 2023.

Surfing NASH returns to preview the second Innovations in NAFLD Care Workshop (INCBCN) to be held in Barcelona from 26-27 May, 2023. Conference founders and directors Jeff Lazarus and Jörn Schattenberg discuss what makes the event unique with Louise Campbell and Roger Green.

In this final conversation, Roger asks what sort of impact the Workshop will have. Specifically, he wonders what indicators in the next six months would be the signal of success. Jeff notes that last year’s meeting resulted in the publishing of an article in Nature’s new Open Access journal, Communications Medicine. Envisioning how the meeting plays out this year, Jeff believes it would be a great sign in November to have people asking to return and lining up funding for 2024. Roger next asks how an intimate meeting of this size will translate an impact into the broader population. Jeff suggests that by having KOLs in attendance, they can take the experience back to their practices and share findings with colleagues. He emphasizes his hope that the impact will make its way out and that this is a meeting oriented to making change and not just publishing another abstract. “This is really about top line presentations coupled with exciting, engaged discussions.”

For the final question, Roger asks how the agenda will impact the next 12 months and what will grow to be a bigger focus for 2024. Surf on to find out.

If you enjoy the episode, have questions or interest around its contents and Fatty Liver disease, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download our discussions. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at questions@SurfingNASH.com.

Stay Safe and Surf On!

Surfing NASH returns to preview the second Innovations in NAFLD Care Workshop (INCBCN) to be held in Barcelona from 26-27 May, 2023. Conference founders and directors Jeff Lazarus and Jörn Schattenberg discuss what makes the event unique with Louise Campbell and Roger Green.

Roger opens with a question around the involvement of non-physicians at the Workshop. Jeff again notes the presentations by esteemed nutritionist, Shira Zelber-Sagi, and epidemiologist, Harriet Rumgay. He also highlights patient organizations that have been reached out to for participation in a roundtable. Lastly, he says feedback will be welcomed to help strengthen the future of the program and its direction. Louise then shares her thoughts on participating in last year’s panel and injecting the strength of nursing perspectives.

From here, Roger asks what the panelists anticipate in the meeting that has yet to be covered. Jeff underscores the importance of facilitating interactive sessions that prompt engaged discussion and plenty of questions. Jörn states that this is not a lecture on drugs and basic science, but an opportunity to harness developments and empower practitioners and patients alike with energized talk around how to use it.

If you enjoy the episode, have questions or interest around its contents and Fatty Liver disease, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download our discussions. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at questions@SurfingNASH.com.

Stay Safe and Surf On!

Surfing NASH returns to preview the second Innovations in NAFLD Care Workshop (INCBCN) to be held in Barcelona from 26-27 May, 2023. Conference founders and directors Jeff Lazarus and Jörn Schattenberg discuss what makes the event unique with Louise Campbell and Roger Green. This conversation picks up with concluding comments around Day 1 in Barcelona. Jeff elaborates on a Patient Organisation session that closes with a roundtable discussion. For this discussion, Juan Mendive of the World Organization of Family Doctors will discuss primary care perspectives.

Moving into Day 2, Jeff shares that friends of the podcast Alina Allen and Mazen Noureddin will be opening with two exciting topics. Alina will be giving a presentation titled Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Patient Identification and Risk Stratification. Following, Mazen will be detailing How to Overcome Barriers of Implementation - Bridging the Gap Between Science and Current Care Pathways. This opening session is chaired by Maru Rinella. Following is an industry session which will see a discussion featuring Peter Rydqvist (Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Sweden) and Jeppe Zacho (Novo Nordisk, Denmark). Later and as part of a treatment and care session there will be an entertaining debate on whether being vegetarian offers a cure for NAFLD (led by Shira Zelber-Sagi and Camilla Dalby Hansen). This session also features a presentation by Stephen Harrison titled Medical Therapy in the Near Future. Stephen will also be joining Jeff in the final session to discuss Steven health equity in Fatty Liver disease and addressing disparities. Joining this session will be Zobair Younossi to discuss payer perspectives, Juan Pericàs on socioeconomics and Patrizia Carrieri on risks and interventions for women with NAFLD.

If you enjoy the episode, have questions or interest around its contents and Fatty Liver disease, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download our discussions. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at questions@SurfingNASH.com.

Stay Safe and Surf On!

Surfing NASH returns to preview the second Innovations in NAFLD Care Workshop (INCBCN) to be held in Barcelona from 26-27 May, 2023. Conference founders and directors Jeff Lazarus and Jörn Schattenberg discuss what makes the event unique with Louise Campbell and Roger Green.

Jörn begins this conversation by noting the diverse, cross-disciplinary involvement of the event. He also shares details of an abstract he will be presenting on liver stiffness. Roger then returns to the idea of linking Fatty Liver and cancers. He recalls last week’s episode when Hannah Mamuszka noted the alarming degree to which all obesogenic cancers are related to Fatty Liver disease. Jeff notes the roundness of Day 1, citing the benefit of hosting a holistic discussion which features viewpoints on alcohol, diabetes and cancer. Jörn adds that by looking at the liver, we are empowering the patients and educating on their individual risk, ultimately informing in terms of cancer prevention. At this point, Louise expands on the importance of early screening in populations who are unaware of their liver health and the need to drive education for those at risk to know when and what to ask their providers. She notes the nonlinear progression to liver cancer, a recently recurring theme on the podcast. She then goes on to commend the convergence of fields, citing the various associations’ (including the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association) growing inclusion of Fatty Liver in recommendations around risk assessment.

Roger connects the idea that endocrinologists are working in terms of cancer prevention. He reasons that if 70% of their patients have NAFLD, and if NAFLD elevates the risk of HCC, then “every time you treat a diabetic patient, you need to think about what you're doing in the context of avoiding cancer.” As the conversation winds down, Jörn mentions a pre-event on the opening morning called the NASH NITs Real World Evidence Summit, which lends to a more hands-on training around which biomarkers to use and implementation. Here, he explains, the experience aims to familiarize those who don't work with these tests everyday to gain the skills and confidence to effectively screen for Fatty Liver diseases.

If you enjoy the episode, have questions or interest around its contents and Fatty Liver disease, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download our discussions. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at questions@SurfingNASH.com.

Stay Safe and Surf On!

Surfing NASH returns to preview the second Innovations in NAFLD Care Workshop (INCBCN) to be held in Barcelona from 26-27 May, 2023. Conference founders and directors Jeff Lazarus and Jörn Schattenberg discuss what makes the event unique with Louise Campbell and Roger Green.

Roger leads this conversation with the note that for this year, Surfing NASH will be working closely with the conference to provide timely coverage from Barcelona. He then asks Jeff to elaborate on some of the feedback received from last year’s inaugural meeting. Immediately Jeff underscores that this meeting fills an important gap between the heavy-hitting conferences in NAFLD and NASH. Specifically, the INCBCN Workshop exists to explore dynamic and nuanced insights into both liver disease and holistic liver health in a smaller, more multidisciplinary forum. He recaps receiving positive feedback and what considerations are informing the follow-up program. It’s important to Jeff that leading KOLs in a range of disciplines from around the world have an opportunity to explore their ideas in an engaged setting. One of last year’s success indicators was that people stayed in the room, interacting from the moment of arrival in the morning through later in the evening. Jörn joins to note his enthusiasm around the practical component of this workshop in that it invests in ideas of implementation and engaging stakeholders beyond hepatology.

From here, Roger leads discussion into a breakdown of the Day 1 sessions. Jeff first expresses excitement for an opening talk by Ramon Bataller which considers alcohol intake alongside Fatty Liver diseases. This presentation focuses on the reality that many of those living with NAFLD and NASH do in fact consume alcohol. Jeff then points to the whole of Session 2 where Ken Cusi has organized a panel focusing on the challenges of Fatty Liver from a diabetes perspective. Lastly, Jeff notes an impactful lecture by Harriet Rumgay titled the Epidemic Burden of NAFLD and Cancer. This talk reminds that much of the daily work in liver health serves cancer prevention and primes Episode 13.2 for a deeper look into this topic.

If you enjoy the episode, have questions or interest around its contents and Fatty Liver disease, we kindly ask that you submit reviews wherever you download our discussions. Alternatively, you can write to us directly at questions@SurfingNASH.com.

Stay Safe and Surf On!

On May 6 and 7, over 100 NAFLD stakeholders convened in Barcelona and on-line for the inaugural Innovations in NAFLD Care 2022 conference (#INCBCN.) Surfing the NASH Tsunami was there, with Jörn Schattenberg serving as event co-founder and Louise Campbell and Roger Green moderating sessions. This week's episode is less a formal recap of the meeting than recollections of key moments and messages from the co-founders and Surfers. Serious comments about meeting design and the importance of stakeholder diversity are interspersed with the conference's lighter moments, in this case referring to Louise being pressed into co-chair services at the last moment.

This conversation starts with the three regular hosts describing the one memory from the weekend that will last the longest for them. Jörn discusses the intensity of the dialogues between stakeholders. Louise focuses on Cyrielle Caussy's presentation on the "fatal triple" of metabolic diseases. Roger identifies two: the passion of the patient advocates and the differences in perspective between traditional top-down, command-and-control specialist medicine as compared to data-driven patient empowerment as depicted by Marcus Ranney's Mito app in development. Given the focus on diverse stakeholders throughout the meeting, the conversation shifts to focus on stakeholders who were NOT well represented: nurses for one, payers and regulators for another. As a final comment, Louise mentions the consistency of a meeting where every presentation, every session was enlightening and satisfying.