ALF Publicy Policy Committee Chair Awarded

The American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) presented the 2006 Distinguished Service Award to Allan W. Wolkoff, MD, during Presidential Plenary I at The Liver Meeting® on October 30, 2006.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to an individual in honor of his or her sustained service to AASLD and/or liver disease research. It recognizes the recipient’s lifelong commitment to the field of hepatology, and contribution to AASLD through service on numerous governance and scientific committees over the years.

Dr. Wolkoff has been a pivotal contributor to the overall mission of AASLD in many different ways, including as an editorial board member and an associate editor of HEPATOLOGY, as AASLD councilor-at-large, and as a member of the Basic Research, and Training and Workforce Committees, and as AASLD representative to NIH and FASEB. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation, serving as Chair of the Public Policy Committee. He currently holds the position of Professor of Medicine and Anatomy and Structural Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he is Associate Director of the Marion Bessin Liver Research Center and Director of the Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Studies.

Dr. Wolkoff’s studies have moved the field of inherited disorders of the biliary tract and opened new pathways to the study of bile acid uptake, OATP transporters, and the movement and function of organic anions within the liver and other organs. His work relates to the mechanisms of liver cell transport and their aberrations leading to liver disease and sets the standard for the field. He currently chairs the Hepatobiliary Pathophysiology Study Section at the National Institutes of Health. During his career, he has been a major contributor to the literature that has defined the basic mechanisms of hepatic organic anion transport including the molecular definition of several anion transporting proteins. More recently his work has focused on the role that microtubular motors play in the movement of vesicles within hepatocytes. This work has included the development of an ingenious cell free microscopy assay for measuring vesicle movement on microtubules. His work has consistently been funded by NIH, published in leading scientific journals, and recognized nationally and internationally by distinguished lectureships and honors. Dr. Wolkoff has written over 150 peer reviewed research papers, review articles, and book chapters; and his work is regularly selected for presentations at AASLD meetings.

Page updated: March 13th, 2007