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In the Season 3 NAFLD Year-in-Review conversations series, Surfers Jörn Schattenberg, Louise Campbell and Roger Green embark on a string of interviews with a handful of Key Opinion Leaders who made headlines and advances in Fatty Liver disease in 2022. In this exclusive segment, Ken Cusi expands on “the year it all came together.”

Ken opens by stating that 2022 has been a momentous year for fighting Fatty Liver as a result of decades of work from a myriad of groups and contributors. He specifically points to the critical efforts of developing guidelines in preparing the field for a drug approval - especially as Phase 3 trials suggest new NASH therapies are on a shorter-term horizon. The culmination of these guidelines and progression toward earlier screening primes 2023 to be yet another historic year. All of which underscores the importance of driving education and increasing awareness of liver health. It's suggested that 2022 has been the year in which the field expanded beyond the interest of hepatologists alone and adopted the attention and collaborative energy of a wider net of stakeholders, including endocrinologists and primary care professionals. From here Ken expands on a brief roadmap as to how we arrived at these points of convergence.

The conversation continues with comments on the versatility of the FIB-4 test. The group revisits a common topic on this podcast whereby different systems from around the world are compared and contrasted in terms of their capacities to utilize FIB-4 and other liver health data in an electronic medical record. Ken reiterates the importance of patient education going forward as he believes patients have an active role to play in the collective goal of putting a dent in Fatty Liver disease. As the conversation winds down, he addresses a number of other subjects including thoughts on nomenclature, different approaches to weight-loss therapies, and the role of policymakers in promoting liver health.