AST member Jennifer Lai Among ‘Top 40 Under 40’ in the Bay Area

Friday, February 20, 2015

AST member Jennifer Lai, MD, MBA, was recently selected as a "Top 40 under 40" by the San Francisco Business Times. Lai, 36, currently serves on the executive committee of AST's Liver and Intestinal Community of Practice (LICOP).

According to a UCSF article, Lai is a both general and transplant hepatologist who specializes in treating patients with chronic viral hepatitis (both B and C), autoimmune disorders, and those with end-stage liver disease needing liver transplantation.

"Lai is principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health-funded Functional Assessment In Liver Transplant (FrAILT) Study, which aims to apply measures of frailty and functional status to patients with end-stage liver disease awaiting liver transplantation. Her central hypothesis is that applying principles of geriatric assessment to this population can improve the ability to better identify patients particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes before and after liver transplantation. Her research lays the groundwork for therapeutic interventions to 'pre-habilitate' patients awaiting liver transplantation to improve their outcomes and quality of life.

This study is currently funded by a Junior Faculty Career Development Award from the American College of Gastroenterology; NIH grants for Early Medical and Surgical Subspecialists in Aging Research Award (R03); and the UCSF Older Americans Independence Center Associate Scholar Award. Lai is the recipient of a T. Franklin Williams Scholar Award and, most recently, the prestigious Paul B. Beeson Award in Aging Research from the NIH in recognition of this innovative research."

We congratulate Lai on her success and her leadership in the field.