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Global Liver Institute Founder and CEO Donna Cryer and hepatology researcher and industry executive Dimitar Tonev join Jörn Schattenberg and Roger Green to share memories of our co-founder and  MASLD leader Stephen Harrison.  

00:00:00 - Surf's Up: Season 5 Episode 16
Standard lead-in, including quotes from panelists

00:02:55 - Introduction
Roger describes the structure of this episode.

00:04:04 - Conversation with Donna and Jörn, including groundbreakers 
Good personal and professional news from Donna, Jörn and Roger.

00:07:32 - Stephen's most outstanding contribution to MASLD
In response to Roger's question, Jörn describes the breadth of Stephen's contributions and interests. To Jörn, Stephen was "a lens focusing that something that was needed to spark the fire." Roger asks him to discuss  Stephen's role in founding NAIL-NIT. Jörn's answer covers Stephen's earlier work on the LITMUS Cohort Study and other contributions to the field as well as  NAIL-NIT. 

00:10:34 - Personal notes about Stephen
Donna continues this theme by speaking to Stephen's ability to bring people together and his providing "unique space for having smaller, intimate conversations: when necessary. 

Roger talks about Stephen bringing Donna to the early podcast to describe International NASH Day 2021 and comments that Stephen was the rare individual who embodied Malcolm Gladwell's three legs of the Social Virus stool. 

00:14:33 - Stephen's advocacy of patient advocates and allied providers
Donna discusses having learned early in her career about the synergistic power of patients, advocates and physicians. She commends Stephen as one KOL who always made certain that patient advocates and organizations had seats and voices at the table, 

00:19:06 - "Harrisonisms" and Harrison stories
Donna did not have Harrisonisms. Roger recalled Stephen's surprise that Roger knew the meaning of the phrase "Hoddy Toddy" and how he quickly integrated phrases of others. WIth that, the interview ends.

00:21:39 - Meet Dimitar Tonev
Dimitar starts off by telling the audience a bit about his history. His "one unique thing" is about his competence as a skier. This leads Roger to ask about his description in the SurfingMASH note of a "clumsy skier." Dim states that Stephen's form wasn't the best but that he skied with energy and passion. He goes on to tell a story about breaking Stephen's glasses the first time they met and how Stephen was able to laugh about it with him.

00:26:41 - Stephen's visionary approach to trial recruitment 
Dimitar describes how Stephen developed his process for recruiting patients into what were then called NASH studies through the "first iterations of Summit," the idea of a site network. 

00:31:19 - Another Harrison innovation
Dim discusses one more innovation: recruiting in neighborhoods that received lower levels of medical care and then recruiting within families. Roger shares that this podcast started to educate sponsors and researchers about the ability to keep trials running in a site network like Summit. 

00:34:35 - What made Stephen Special and Wrap-Up
To Dim, Stephen special was his in his "enormous capacity to work long hours,"  Dim and Roger agree about the energy and enthusiasm Stephen devoted to everything he did. 

00:37:48 - Special Stephen stories
Dim tells a story about Stephen flying over the Atlantic with his family. You'll have to listen to learn it. He goes on share two more special stories about Stephen. .  

00:43:29 -Question of the Week
Roger asks listeners who attended DDW last weekend which paper or presentation struck them most forcefully, and why.

00:44:02 - Business report
This week's news on the Stephen Harrison memorial, our new private