Dr. Norah Terrault is Professor of Medicine and Chief of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases and Neil Kaplowitz Endowed Chair in Liver Diseases Research. She received her MD from the University of Alberta and completed fellowships in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at the University of Toronto and a Masters in Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Terrault has focused her clinical and research activities on viral hepatitis and steatotic liver disease (metabolic and alcohol-associated), especially in special populations including those with cirrhosis and those with transplants. In addition to multiple clinical trials related to preventing and treating chronic hepatitis viral hepatitis and metabolic steatotic liver disease, Dr. Terrault has been PI on multiple NIH-funded studies, including the current NIDDK-supported Liver Cirrhosis Network and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis clinical research network (NASH CRN). She has authored more than 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts, editorials, and invited reviews as well as co-authoring US national guidelines for treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C and alcohol-associated liver disease. She is past associate editor for Hepatology and deputy editor for Liver Transplantation and co-edited Zakim and Boyer’s textbook in hepatology. Dr. Terrault is currently serving as the president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). She is the founder of USC Project ECHO, a multifaceted program to train and support primary care physicians in California to care for patients with viral hepatitis. She has a long history of mentoring fellows and junior faculty in clinical research and is passionate about creating research support and opportunities for the next generation of GI/Hepatology investigators.

Dr. Leeies is an organ donation, critical care medicine and emergency medicine specialist physician. Trained as a clinician investigator, he serves as the Director of Research for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Leeies leads a collaborative program of research with a focus on promoting health equity in organ and tissue donation and transplantation. To ensure this work is informed by the population it aims to serve, Dr. Leeies has led the formation of a 2SLGBTQI+ Patient & Public Advisory Team which partners in the development of patient-centered research that explores the inequities that 2SLGBTQI+ persons face in the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system. Through this work Dr. Leeies hopes to generate knowledge that can inform the reformation of structural and systemic elements of the health system that uphold these inequities. This intersectional research program pairs with his clinical work as an organ donation specialist physician with the Transplant Manitoba Gift of Life program. Dr. Leeies extends his commitment to the principles of equity, diversity, decolonization, and inclusion (EDDI) through academic and clinical service as the Director of EDDI for Transplant Manitoba and for the Canadian Critical Care Society.