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Surfing NASH returns to preview the second Innovations in NAFLD Care Workshop (INCBCN) to be held in Barcelona from 26-27 May, 2023. Conference founders and directors Jeff Lazarus and Jörn Schattenberg discuss what makes the event unique with Louise Campbell and Roger Green.

From the outset, Jeff underscores that this meeting fills an important gap between the heavy-hitting conferences in NAFLD and NASH. The INCBCN Workshop exists to explore dynamic and nuanced insights into both liver disease and holistic liver health in a smaller, more multidisciplinary forum. He recaps receiving positive feedback and building a follow-up program from last year’s inaugural event which witnessed state-of-the-art talks by leading KOLs across differing specialties. Jörn notes his enthusiasm around the practical component of this workshop in that it invests in ideas of implementation and engaging stakeholders beyond hepatology.

From here, Roger leads discussion into a breakdown of the sessions comprising the two days. Jeff immediately expresses excitement for an opening talk by Ramon Bataller which considers alcohol intake. He next points to Session 2 where Ken Cusi has organized discussion on the challenges of Fatty Liver from a diabetes perspective. Lastly, Jeff notes an impactful lecture by Harriet Rumgay titled the Epidemic Burden of NAFLD and Cancer. This talk reminds that much of the daily work in liver health serves cancer prevention. Roger recalls Hannah Mamuszka’s note from last week on the degree to which all obesogenic cancers are related to Fatty Liver disease.

At this point, Louise expands on the importance of early screening in populations who are unaware of their liver health and the need to drive education for those at risk to know when and what to ask their providers. She notes the nonlinear progression to liver cancer, a recently recurring theme on the podcast. She goes on to commend the convergence of fields, citing the various associations’ (including the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association) growing inclusion of Fatty Liver in recommendations around risk assessment. Concluding Day 1, Jeff elaborates on a Patient Organisation session that includes a speaker from the World Organization of Family Doctors.

Moving into Day 2, friends of the podcast Alina Allen and Mazen Noureddin will be opening with two exciting topics. Alina will be giving a presentation titled Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Patient Identification and Risk Stratification. Following, Mazen will be detailing How to Overcome Barriers of Implementation - Bridging the Gap Between Science and Current Care Pathways. Later there will be an entertaining debate on whether being vegetarian offers a cure for NAFLD (led by Shira Zelber-Sagi and Camilla Dalby Hansen). The group then discusses the input of allied health professionals in the program and a few additional elements yet to be mentioned, including Zobair Younossi on payers and a talk by Stephen Harrison. As the session winds down, Roger asks the panelists what the impact of this event will be and how will it inform next year's program. Stay tuned for more exclusive coverage from Barcelona and view the full program here.

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Stay Safe and Surf On!