Dr. Agarwal is the London Lead for HCV elimination and has a strong clinical-academic research interest in ‘cure’ therapies for HBV. He is a Consultant Hepatologist and Transplant Physician at the Institute of Liver Studies at King’s College Hospital in London, UK. 

Dr Agarwal is also Lead for the Regional Viral Hepatitis Program, at the largest treatment centre for viral hepatitis in the UK. He is a Clinical Director of the NIHR South London Research Delivery Network.

In 1991, Dr Agarwal graduated from Newcastle University, UK, and his postgraduate training was undertaken in Newcastle with the majority of his clinical and research training at the Regional Liver and Transplant Unit. He also spent a year at the Division of Liver Diseases, Mount Sinai, New York, USA. 

Tarik Asselah is a Full Professor of Medicine and Hepatology, caring for patients at Hôpital Beaujon, Assitance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Clichy, France, and teaching at the University of Paris-Cité, France. Professor Asselah is the Head of Viral Hepatitis at Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM ; UMR 1149), Centre de Recherche sur l’Inflammation). He is an M.D. and also holds a Ph.D. in virology.

Professor Asselah’s fields of research include chronic liver diseases, translational medicine, precision medicine, and treatment of viral hepatitis (HBV, HCV, and HDV). Prof. Asselah is a coordinator/principal investigator for many international clinical trials of therapies for chronic viral hepatitis with particular interest in early phase development (from phase 1 to 3) of new direct acting antiviral therapies. Prof. Asselah has coordinated at the international level major international clinical trials on viral hepatitis, such as Solstice (NCT05461170, Vir Biotechnology), MYR-204 (NCT03852433, Gilead), Octopus (NCT05275023, Janssen), and Endurance-4 (NCT02636595, AbbVie) studies. Prof. Asselah was an expert for the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Clinical Practice Guidelines on hepatitis delta virus in 2023.

Prof. Asselah has authored more than 300 articles in the field of chronic liver diseases in major journals (The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, etc.) with over 15,000 total citations (H-index = 61).

He has been selected as a Rising Star in Gastroenterology in 2009 by the United European Gastroenterology (UEG) in appreciation of his outstanding scientific work. He received awards for his genomic studies on HCV in 2005 from the French Association for Liver Disease (AFEF), and for his leadership in hepatology in 2019 from the Czech Hepatology Society. In 2023, Prof. Asselah received the Faculty Outstanding Research Output Award from the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of Hong Kong. In 2024, Prof. Asselah received the Presidential Award from the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) 2024 in Kyoto, Japan.

Dr. Gane is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Hepatologist and the Deputy Director of the New Zealand Liver Unit at Auckland City Hospital. 

Dr. Gane trained in hepatology and liver transplantation at the King’s College Institute of Liver Studies, where he completed his doctoral thesis on pathogenesis of hepatitis C. In 1998, he set up the first national liver transplant unit. In 2007, Dr Gane opened a dedicated Phase I research centre which helped develop the first oral cure for hepatitis C and is now focused on developing a finite cure for hepatitis B.

He has published over 450 papers and has received many research awards including the Health Research Council Beaven and Liley Medals. He was awarded Member of the Order of New Zealand for Services to Medicine and New Zealand Innovator of the Year for his work towards hepatitis C elimination in New Zealand.

Dr Gane chairs the Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora oversight committee for the Hepatitis C Elimination Strategy. He also is clinical advisor for the Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand HepB surveillance programme.

He is a Fellow of the American Association of the Study of Liver Diseases, an elected Fellow of the Royal Society (NZ Chapter), and an Associate Editor for Journal of Hepatology.

Dr. Robert G. Gish is a fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, the American Society of Transplantation and American College of Physicians, as well as the Medical Director of the Hepatitis B Foundation. He co-authored a public health policy for liver health in Vietnam focusing on HBV and is also assisting with the development of viral hepatitis health care policies in Georgia, Armenia, and the Philippines.

He was a major early contributor to deciphering methods for the detection of hepatitis B and C virus and characterizing their epidemiology and clinical presentation in humans. He was involved in studies that led to the genotypic classification strategies and methods now in use worldwide.

Professor Pietro Lampertico is Full Professor in the Gastroenterology, Director of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division, Head of the “A. M. e A. Migliavacca” Center for Liver Disease at the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.

In the Gastroenterology Unit, Professor Lampertico is primarily involved in the clinical management of chronic viral hepatitis outpatients, particularly those with CHB and CHD. His research interests include the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis/cirrhosis due to HBV and HDV, the long-term outcome of cirrhotic patients undergoing antiviral treatment, and the diagnosis and management of antiviral resistance to oral nucleos(t)ide analogues. Since 2016, as Director of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division, he oversees all the medical and scientific activities in the field of liver disease.

Professor Lampertico is currently a reviewer for several top-ranked international journals. He is a member of AASLD, EASL and AISF and serves in the Editorial Board of prestigious journals.

He has spoken internationally about liver disease, specifically the natural history of HBV and antiviral treatment of HBV and HDV, and has published several articles and book chapters. He is currently involved in national and international HBV and HDV clinical trials.

A 1986 graduate of the State University of Milan with degrees in medicine and surgery, Professor Lampertico completed his postdoctoral research in the Department of Experimental Pathology at Tulane University in New Orleans, USA. Upon his return to Milan, he completed specializations in liver diseases and internal medicine. He received his PhD in clinical methodology from the University of Milan in 1998.

Heiner Wedemeyer, M.D., is a full professor and Head and Chair of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology at Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Professor Wedemeyer’s main interests are the immunopathogenesis of HBV, HCV, HDV, and HEV infections, as well as the development of novel immunomodulatory therapies, the hepatological treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases and the treatment of liver cancer that can lead to liver transplantation. He has been Principal Investigator on several Phase 1–4 clinical trials on antivirals and immunotherapies in viral hepatitis. Professor Wedemeyer was the EASL Secretary General from 2009-2011 and has authored more than 560 original articles in international peer-reviewed journals, including several national and international guidelines on the management of HBV, HCV, HDV, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Professor Yuen is the Chair Professor of The University of Hong Kong and Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation Professor in Medicine, and the Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. Professor Yuen's research interests include prevention, natural history, serology, virology and treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

He is one of the top internationally renowned researchers in the field of hepatitis B disease. He has now published more than 600 papers in world-renowned medical journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases and Lancet Oncology. He has delivered more than 350 lectures all over the world.

Professor Yuen is now leading most of the international trials examining new drugs including antiviral and immunomodulatory agents for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. He is also actively performing cutting-edge research on novel markers for hepatitis B infection and occult hepatitis B infection.