HRS-Harmony Co-chair

Dr. Andrew Allegretti is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is the Director of Critical Care Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a Principal Investigator in the MGH Kidney Research Center. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University. He completed Internal Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Nephrology Fellowship in the combined program at Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals, and received a Master of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Allegretti’s research interests include mechanisms of injury in hepatorenal syndrome, outcomes around acute kidney injury in the critical care setting, and the use of SGLT2 inhibitors in chronic kidney disease. His work in hepatorenal syndrome has been supported by awards from the NIH, American Heart Association, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and the American College of Gastroenterology. His work has been published several high-impact journals, including Hepatology, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and American Journal of Kidney Disease.

HRS-Harmony Co-Chair

Dr. Justin Belcher grew up in Connecticut before attending Williams College where he graduated with a degree in history. He then attended medical school at Drexel University College of Medicine before completing his internship, residency, and Chief Residency in Internal Medicine at George Washington University. While completing his research fellowship in nephrology at Yale, he received a PhD in 2014 from the Investigative Medicine Program. He is Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Nephrology at Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. The primary focus of his research is on acute kidney injury in patients with cirrhosis including the use of novel biomarkers to enhance diagnosis, therapeutic decisions and prognosis.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Parikh is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He serves as Associate Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Center for Vascular Biology Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His research is focused on molecular mechanisms underlying acute kidney injury and sepsis. In recent studies, the Parikh laboratory has implicated mitochondrial maintenance via PGC1a and NAD+ as a novel pathway for resilience against AKI. Ongoing studies are examining mechanistic links between AKI, CKD, and aging and how NAD+ metabolism impacts injury in other organs. Work from his team has been published in Nature, Nature Medicine, JCI, Science Translational Medicine, PNAS and other high-impact journals. Dr. Parikh graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a degree in chemistry and he received the Founder’s Medal for highest academic standing from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He completed residency and fellowship training in Nephrology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Parikh has served as principal investigator on research grants from the National Institutes of Health, American Society of Nephrology, American Heart Association, and American Diabetes Association. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (2017). Dr. Parikh has received the Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (2018) and the Sir William Osler Young Investigator Award from the Interurban Clinical Club (2018). Dr. Parikh received the 2019 Donald W. Seldin Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Nephrology and the American Heart Association.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Wadei is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He holds joint appointments as a Consultant Transplant Nephrologist in the Transplant Center and in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Mayo Clinic Florida.

Dr. Wadei obtained his medical degree at Cairo University, Egypt. He completed 2 years of internal medicine residency at Cairo University hospitals before moving to the United States where he completed Internal Medicine residency at Sinai-Grace Hospital, Wayne state University in Detroit, MI. Dr. Wadei completed his nephrology fellowship at Harper Hospital, Wayne State University in 2004 before moving to Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN where he completed a transplant nephrology fellowship.

Dr. Wadei is a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology and the American Society of Transplantation. He authored multiple papers and book chapters in the field of nephrology, hypertension and kidney transplantation. His main focus is studying kidney dysfunction in patients with hepatic cirrhosis and liver transplant recipients and studying indications and outcomes of liver-kidney transplantation

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Regner is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Nephrology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2001. After completing residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Nephrology at the Mayo Clinic, he joined the faculty in the Division of Nephrology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2007. He is board certified in Nephrology by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology. His major clinical interests include acute kidney injury, hepatorenal syndrome, chronic kidney disease, and glomerulonephritis. Dr. Regner’s research focuses on the regulation of kidney hemodynamics and genetic/cellular mechanisms of acute kidney injury. His work has been funded by the NIH/NIDDK, the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Partnership, and the Clinical Translational Science Institute of Southeastern Wisconsin.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Ray Chung is Director of Hepatology and the Liver Center, Vice Chief of Gastroenterology, and Kevin and Polly Maroni Research Scholar at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also Associate Member of the Broad Institute. He has had a longstanding interest in the pathogenesis of chronic liver disease, including derangements leading to hepatorenal syndrome.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Douglas Simonetto is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and a Gastroenterologist and Transplant Hepatologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. He is also Program Director for the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Fellowship Program at Mayo Clinic. He received his medical degree from Universidade Federal de Ciencias Medicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil. He completed Internal Medicine Residency, Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology fellowships at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Dr. Simonetto research interests include treatment and outcomes in hepatorenal syndrome, complications of cirrhosis and portal hypertension and alcohol-associated liver disease. Dr. Simonetto’s research is funded by NIAAA as well as institutional and society awards. His work has been published in several high-impact journals, including Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology and American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Xavier F. Vela Parada is a current clinical research fellow in nephrology at BWH and MGH combined program. Some of his interests include point of care ultrasound, interventional nephrology, and nephrology education in social media. He collaborates in the HRS-Harmony group by discussing the current literature and creates some of the art that is related to the HRS-Harmony group. He graduated from medical school in 2013 in his home country El Salvador and completed a residency in internal medicine in Mt. Sinai West/Morningside in New York.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Patidar is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Gastroenterologist and Transplant Hepatologist at Baylor College of Medicine and Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He received his medical degree from West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in 2012. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and dual fellowships in Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, and Transplant Hepatology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. His major clinical and research interests include treatment and outcomes of acute kidney injury in cirrhosis, complications of cirrhosis and portal hypertension, alcohol associated hepatitis, and critical care management in patients with acute on chronic liver failure. Dr. Patidar’s work has been published in high impact journals, such as Journal of Hepatology, Hepatology, American Journal of Gastroenterology, and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Nneka Ufere, MD is currently a Transplant Hepatology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. She completed an A.B. in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a minor in Psychology at Harvard College in 2008. She attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine where she completed her medical degree in 2012 and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she also served as a Chief Medical Resident during the 2016-2017 academic year. She completed her fellowship training in Gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2020. She is pursuing a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology degree at the at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Ufere conducts health services and outcomes research in hepatology centering around palliative care and informed decision-making for patients with advanced liver disease. She looks forward to an academic career dedicated to developing interventions aimed at improving the quality of life and quality of care for patients with advanced liver disease and their caregivers.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Josh Levitsky, MD, MS, FAST, FAASLD is currently a Professor of Medicine, Surgery, and Medical Education and Hepatology Program Chief in the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Levitsky received his B.S. from the University of Michigan and M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Alpha Omega Alpha). He then completed an Internal Medicine residency and Gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago Hospitals and a Transplant Hepatology fellowship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, receiving an AASLD Fellowship Award. At Northwestern, he completed a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation. He is currently certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology.

Dr. Levitsky’s academic interests are clinical and translational in nature, with a focus on liver transplant immunosuppression, tolerance and biomarkers. He has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, abstracts, book chapters and reviews on topics relevant to liver disease and transplantation. He is a Deputy Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation. He is the principal and co-investigator for a number of NIH, pharmaceutical and investigator-initiated trials.

Dr. Levitsky is an active member of several professional societies, including the American Society of Transplantation, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and the International Liver Transplantation Society. He was previously a Councilor-At-Large for the American Society of Transplantation from 2014-2017, the Treasurer from 2020-2022, and currently the President-Elect. Previously, he was co-chair of the American Transplant Congress, co-chair of the AST CEOT meeting and co-chair of the AST Education Committee. One of his passions is trainee education, establishing the AST Comprehensive Trainee Curriculum and participating in the yearly Fellow’s Symposium. Dr. Levitsky’s dedication to the field of transplantation and AST includes all facets of clinical care, advocacy, research and education.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Justin Boike is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and is a practicing Hepatologist and Transplant Hepatologist. He cares for patients with a wide range of liver diseases including cirrhosis and liver transplant. His clinical and research interest is in the management of complex portal hypertension issues such as chronic portal vein thrombosis (PVT), bleeding varices, refractory ascites, noncirrhotic portal hypertension and the utilization and outcomes of TIPS.

Member of HRS-Harmony

A native of the Bay Area, Dr. R. Todd Frederick received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles and his medical degree from New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. He completed both his Internal Medicine Residency and his Fellowship in Gastroenterology/Hepatology at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Frederick then joined the staff as a transplant hepatologist with the San Francisco Center for Liver Disease at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, CA. He currently serves as Clinical Director of Hepatology and Fellowship Director for Transplant Hepatology as well as the Chair of the Clinical Protocols Committee for the Division. His clinical and research interests include the management of advanced chronic liver disease and liver failure, use of artificial liver support systems, and portal hypertension, among other topics. He has been involved in clinical research for the management of hepatorenal syndrome since 2004.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Brett Fortune is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Montefiore Einstein in Bronx, NY and the Medical Director of Liver Transplant at Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation. Dr. Fortune earned his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and then completed his Internal Medicine residency at The Ohio State University Medical Center. Dr Fortune then finished his gastroenterology and transplant hepatology fellowships at the University of Colorado Denver.

Dr. Fortune’s research interests address clinical outcomes related to cirrhosis and portal hypertension complications as well as quality improvement in the care of patients with cirrhosis or those who have received a liver transplant. His work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals or books. He is currently Associate Editor for Liver Transplantation and Liver Section Editor for Digestive Disease Interventions and has sat on the editorial board for Hepatology. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and co-authored the newly updated 2023 AASLD practice guidance statement on the Management of Portal Hypertension.

Member of HRS-Harmony

Matthew Kappus, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine and the medical director of the living donation liver transplant program at Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC. He completed his undergraduate education at Emory University followed by medical school training at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. His internal medicine residency was completed at the Virginia Commonwealth University where he was also chief medical resident. Matthew completed his fellowship training in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology at Duke University where he has been on faculty since 2016. He has specialized fellowship training in advanced nutrition and has dedicated his academic pursuits to improving the frail state of patients with cirrhosis awaiting liver transplantation. His academic mission is to understand not only how physical frailty impacts patients with chronic liver disease, but how to modify and reverse this state through exercise and nutritional optimization

Member of HRS-Harmony

Dr. Ethan Weinberg is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2009. He completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at Weill-Cornell and post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York City prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania in 2016. In 2020, he completed a clinical trials fellowship at the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Weinberg is actively engaged in clinical trials and studies in many aspects of chronic liver disease including ascites and HRS-AKI.