4th Annual Liver Update Creates Forum for Discussion

Over 100 members of the community and healthcare providers attended ALF sponsored event.

The American Liver Foundation, Hawai'i Chapter's 4th Annual Liver Update provided a lively exchange of ideas on "The Future of Hepatitis B and C" for physicians and the community.

The event, held on July 19 at the Queen's Conference Center, opened with a discussion for the general public with panelists who provided different perspectives on how to effectively manage liver disease. One of the topics that drew considerable interest was alternative medicine such as herbal supplements that are safe to manage liver disease.

The panel, assembled by Heather Lusk, American Liver Foundation's chair of the Community Education Advisory Commitee who spearheaded this year's seminar, consisted of: Mike Bannan, who had a liver transplant six years ago after discovering he had hepatitis B, and who now serves as a Liver Buddy mentor; Jennifer Lee, a family nurse practitioner who is involved with the care of liver patients; Dr. Joseph Pepping, assistant director of integrative medicine at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii; and Dr. Marvin Acklin, a psychologist with the Hawaii Medical Center East.

Also joining the panel was keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Gish, medical director of California Pacific Medical Center's Liver Transplant Program in San Francisco and who is affiliated with the medical center's Liver and GI research center team. Dr. Gish is an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Nevada, in both Reno and Las Vegas.

Two afternoon sessions for physicians and other healthcare providers covered the latest developments in hepatitis B by Dr. Gish and hepatitis C by Dr. Naoky Tsai. This was followed by a discussion led by Dr. Arnold Vogten of Tripler Army Medical Center with panelists that included Dr. Gish, Dr. Tsai, Dr. Linda Wong, and Dr. Jimmy Yoon, Kauai Medical Clinic/Wilcox Memorial Hospital, who flew to Oahu just for the Liver Update.

Major sponsors for this year's Liver Update were Astellas Pharma US, Inc., Gilead Sciences, and the Hawaii State Department of Health. Lunch for all attendees was courtesy of CVS Caremark.

Page updated: April 10th, 2009

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