Home Page

​Welcome to the UCSF Liver Center

The Liver Center is a consortium of more than 60 researchers who share a common interest in liver biology and disease. The goal of the Center is to integrate bench science with clinical investigation, in support of its vision to understand and cure human liver diseases.

The physicians and scientists of the Liver Center are committed to improving understanding of liver biology and alleviating suffering from liver diseases. Read More.
Holger Willenbring, MD, PhD
Program Director, Liver Center

Holger Willenbring named as new Center Director

   The Liver Center is proud to announce that Dr. Holger Willenbring, Professor of Surgery in the Division of Transplant Surgery, has been appointed as its new Program Director. His appointment was approved by officials at NIDDK on September 16, 2024. Dr. Willenbring succeeds Dr. Jacquelyn Maher, who stepped down as Director after completing a 16-year term from 2008-2024.
   Dr. Willenbring is well known to the Liver Center, having served as its Associate Director since 2012. In addition, Dr. Willenbring oversees the Liver Center's Enrichment Program, which he will continue to do through the current fund year. Dr. Willenbring previously provided oversight to the Liver Center Pilot & Feasibility Program, but with his new responsibilities as Director he will delegate that role to Dr. Maher for the 2025 funding cycle. 
   With this leadershsip transition, Dr. Jennifer Lai will also assume a new role as Associate Director of the Center. Please join us in congratulating Drs. Willenbring and Lai as they lead the Center to new heights of excellence!

Congratulations to the 2026 Pilot & Feasibility Grant Awardees!

Maria Duarte, MD

Peripheral Blood DNA Methylation Signatures Predicting Fibrosis Risk Among People with HIV and MASLD

Alessandra Ferrari, PhD

Dietary Control of Cholesterol Homeostasis Through Lipid Membrane Remodeling

Hirotake Komatsu, MD, PhD

Addressing Diffusion Barriers in Large Liver Organoids

Featured Publications

Lee JY, Zhu C, Boldridge MA, Stark RL, Bonilla G, Watari K, Papa C, Xu L, Gonzalez F, Tang X, Dang KT, Son K, Chetal K, Ibrahim P, Sadreyev RI, Sheikh BN, Karin M, Näär AM. A multi-functional oral small molecule targeting energy and lipid metabolism to treat obesity and related metabolic disorders. Sci Adv. 2026 Aug 21;12(34):eaed3119. Epub 2026 Aug 21. PubMed PMID: 42627907; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC13496183. 

Yang TC, Ha NB, Fan B, Barry F, Seetharaman S, Cho B, Czepiel K, Sharma A, Usman L, Lai JC. Rate and clinical predictors of skeletal muscle loss in patients with cirrhosis. Gut. 2026 Jul 30;. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2026-339159. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 42532672. 

Wadhwani SI, Reyna B, Huerta A, Bucuvalas JC, Gottlieb LM, Lee C, Lyles CR, Rhee SJ, Shui AM, Lai JC. Health advocates to address social adversity in pediatric liver transplantation: A clinical trial. Hepatol Commun. 2026 Aug 1;10(8).  eCollection 2026 Aug 1. PubMed PMID: 42467992. 

Satre DD, Taj L, Wong RJ, Snyder HR, Cheung R, Hua W, Monto A, Batki SL, Ostacher MJ, Parekh P, Shui AM, Fakadej T, Chen JY, Tana M, Liao M, Haight CG, Khalili M. A randomized controlled trial of stepped treatment to reduce unhealthy alcohol use in patients with chronic liver disease. Hepatology. 2026 Jun 24 [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 42340251. 

Far AT, Sun S, Jutras G, Wang MB, Burns S, Owens J, Galvez V, Somsouk M, Lai JC, Lai K, Ge J. Large language model chatbot-based text-to-SQL application for database analyses in liver diseases and hepatology research. JAMIA Open. 2026 Jun;9(3):ooag106. eCollection 2026 Jun. PubMed PMID: 42327622; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC13278831. 

For a complete list of liver-related member publications updated monthly, click here