The most pressing global health threat you may not have heard about yet (Episode 20)

The most pressing global health threat you may not have heard about yet, with Jeffrey Lazarus (Episode 20)

Join host Laura Meoli-Ferrigon on this episode of the Making Public Health Personal podcast with our esteemed guest Jeffrey Lazarus. He is a professor of global health in the Health Policy and Management Department at CUNY SPH, and a research professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Spain. His decade-long career as a health systems, HIV and viral hepatitis expert at The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe was followed by three years at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He currently serves as co-chair of the HIV Outcomes Beyond Viral Suppression coalition, a member of the board of directors of the SHARE Global Health Foundation and as a member of the Global NASH Council and the EASL Public Health and Policy Committee, where he leads the global Healthy Livers, Healthy Lives coalition. Professor Jeff is the author of more than 300 publications centered around liver health, viral hepatitis, HIV and COVID-19.

In today’s episode, we’ll discuss the most prevalent liver disease in human history, and why it is largely unknown to the general population. Formerly referred to as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) affects an estimated 38% of the global adult population, and around 13% of children and adolescents.

Professor Lazarus sheds light on the significance of assigning a new name and diagnostic criteria to this disease. Discover preventive measures, reversal strategies, and the need for integrative services to transform global liver health. Join us for an eye-opening conversation, and learn how we can combat this silent epidemic.

Episode Links:
Learn more and connect with Jeffrey V Lazarus: https://sph.cuny.edu/about/people/faculty/jeffrey-lazarus/
Professor Jeff’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jvlazarus?lang=en
Professor Jeff’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-v-lazarus-42a86a/

American Liver Foundation Honors Professor Jeffrey V Lazarus, PhD with the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award: https://liverfoundation.org/resource-center/blog/american-liver-foundation-honors-professor-jeffrey-v-lazarus-phd-with-the-distinguished-scientific-achievement-award/

Integrated management of HIV, diabetes, and hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa: a pragmatic cluster-randomized, controlled trial: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01573-8/fulltext

A multisociety Delphi consensus statement on new fatty liver disease nomenclature: https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(23)00418-X/fulltext

NAFLD — sounding the alarm on a silent epidemic: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41575-020-0315-7
It is time to expand the fatty liver disease community of practice: https://journals.lww.com/hep/fulltext/2023/11000/it_is_time_to_expand_the_fatty_liver_disease.2.aspx

A global research priority agenda to advance public health responses to fatty liver disease: https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(23)00323-9/fulltext

Download a transcript of this episode for accessibility: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fd3rlkerereywwbhgu6am/Ep20-Transcript.docx?rlkey=f5ml0aoumgrt71piugp182kri&dl=0