Current Award Recipients - CASL - Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver

2025 Award Recipients

CASL-CLF Gold Medal Award (awarded to an exceptional individual in hepatology, who has made outstanding contributions to liver research)

Mark Swain

Dr. Mark Swain, MD, is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine, former head of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, holds the Cal Wenzel Family Foundation Chair in Hepatology, is a founding member of the Calgary Liver Unit, and is a member of the Snyder Institute. We spoke with him about some of the latest innovative research and treatments he is working on.

CASL Distinguished Service Award (awarded to a CASL member in recognition of their outstanding contributions to CASL and to the field of liver disease in Canada)

Lawrence Worobetz

Dr. Lawrence Worobetz graduated from University of Saskatchewan in 1977, completing a rotating internship in Edmonton, a residency in Internal Medicine in Vancouver, a Fellowship in Gastroenterology in London and was a junior lecturer in New Zealand. Returning to Saskatoon in 1982 he became Professor of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. Fully involved with Gastroenterology he was Treasurer of the CAG for 7 years as well as Treasurer for the World Congress and PanAmerican congress of Gastroenterology. Recognizing a need provincially for care of patients with liver disease, he changed his entire practice to Hepatology becoming the only Hepatologist in Saskatchewan. With the mentorship and support from CASL members he was able to acquire the knowledge and experience to practice exclusively Hepatology. He was able to influence curriculum change, initiate clinics in viral illness and liver transplant and mentor health professionals in liver disease. As the only Hepatologist in Saskatchewan he had the opportunity to participate in numerous national collaborative multicentre research projects and contribute at a national level to educational and administrative efforts where regional representation was needed. He is now an apiarist and wood turner who looks forward to his monthly edition of Hepatology

2024-2026 CASL Visiting Professorship Award

Constantine (Dean) Karvellas

Constantine (Dean) Karvellas is a Professor of Hepatology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Alberta. He has been an attending intensivist in the E. Garner King General Systems Intensive Care Unit since 2009. He is also involved with the Liver Transplant programme as a Hepatologist. He completed his medical degree at the University of Alberta in 2001. He went on to complete residency training in Gastroenterology (2006), and Critical Care Medicine (2009) at the University of Alberta. In 2006, he received the CAG/Schering/CIHR research fellowship and completed advanced training in hepatic failure at the Institute of Liver Studies, King's College Hospital in London,UK under Dr. Julia Wendon. In 2011, he completed a master’s of science in epidemiology through the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr Karvellas has been active within the Society of Critical Care Medicine (co-chair of recently published liver management guideline) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (Chair of the Acute on Chronic Liver Failure SIG and co-chair of recently published ACLF Clinical Practiced Guidance). He is an associate editor of the Journal of Hepatology. Dr Karvellas is the only Canadian co-investigator of the NIH-funded US Acute Liver Failure Study Group. He has over 150 peer-reviewed publications reflecting his interests in acute and acute chronic liver failure, liver transplantation and extracorporeal liver support.

CASL Education Excellence Award (recognizes a CASL member who demonstrates exceptional scholarly activities, leadership in medical education, significant involvement in the development and/or implementation of educational programs and innovations, excellence in teaching, and a commitment to administrative duties relating to medical education)

Leslie Lilly

Dr. Leslie Lilly, MD MSc, FRCPC, is the Medical Director for the Post-Transplant Clinic and Director for the Transplant Hepatology Fellowship and specializes in Liver Transplantation, Viral Hepatitis, Immunosuppression and Antiviral Medications. Liver Transplant Clinic.

CIHR-INMD-CASL Early Career Research Partnership Prize (The CIHR-INMD-CASL Early Career Researcher Partnership Prize (“the Partnership Prize”) is designed to recognize exceptional young investigators with an interest specifically in some aspect of liver disease, and who are a member of the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver)

Mohammad Qasim Khan

Dr. Khan is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and cross-appointed in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University. He is a clinician researcher, specializing in Advanced and Transplant Hepatology. After initiating undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, he completed his medical training with distinction at the King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan. He subsequently pursued post-graduate medical training in the United States where he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago. Given his clinical and research interests in liver disease, he pursued advanced fellowship training in Transplant Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Dr. Khan’s areas of research interest include: (1) Optimization and Management of Pre- and Post-liver transplant cardiometabolic conditions, i.e. post-transplant weight gain, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and allograft steatosis; and (2) Steatotic Liver Disease, specifically Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD). His work has been published in several high impact journals including Hepatology, The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, among others. He is a Steering Committee member of the Vanguard Committee of the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS), and the Research Committee of the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL). He was recently invited to participate in the prestigious AASLD-EASL Masterclass in Savannah, Georgia. He previously was a Steering Committee member of the Clinical Practice Special Interest Group of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)

CASL Research Excellence Award (This award is given to a CASL member who demonstrates research excellence and was lead author of a high-impact research article published during the last calendar year.)

Farzaneh Tamnanloo

Farzaneh Tamnanloo is a postdoctoral fellow in the Liver Tissue Engineering and Cell Therapy Laboratory at the University of Montreal-affiliated Sainte-Justine Research Centre (CHUSJ). Her expertise lies in both in vitro and in vivo disease modeling to advance our understanding of liver disease. Tamnanloo completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Montreal (2023), focusing on hepatic encephalopathy and neuronal cell loss in liver disease. In her current position, she develops animal models to study acute-on-chronic liver failure, while exploring advanced regenerative medicine therapies for these conditions. She generates in vitro 2D and 3D models of inherited liver diseases, including tyrosinemia type 1 (HT1) and Progressive Cholestasis of Northwestern Quebec (PCNQ), to understand their mechanisms and evaluate the potential of regenerative medicine or gene therapy as treatment options. Tamnanloo’s research has been published in JHEP reports, Journal of Neuroscience Research, and Neurochemical Research. In 2024, the International Society for Hepatic Encephalopathy and Nitrogen Metabolism (ISHEN) awarded her the 2023 Basic Research Article of the Year.

CASL PSC Partners Seeking a Cure Canada Award (This award recognizes the best abstract on primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) presented at the Canadian Liver Meeting, and is made possible by a generous donation from PSC Partners Seeking a Cure Canada):

Soumita Ghosh

Soumita is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ajmera Transplant Centre, University Health Network’s Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, working under the supervision of Dr. Mamatha Bhat. Soumita specializes in developing machine learning methods for the integrated analysis of omics and clinical data to improve clinical outcomes in health. She is an Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto (Jan 2023 – Jan 2025) and a recipient of the prestigious 2024 Toronto General Hospital Research Institute Postdoctoral Research Award. She has close to a decade of experience in developing innovative methods for analysing and interpreting complex multi-omics data. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Health (Biostatistics) from the National University of Singapore.

Sass-Kortsak Award (This award is presented every two years to a CASL member in recognition of outstanding achievements in research and science in pediatric hepatology. The recipient is invited as a guest lecturer at the Canadian Liver Meeting, formerly CASL Annual Meeting).

Deirdre Kelly

Professor Deirdre Kelly CBE FRCP, FRCPI, FRCPCH, MD is a distinguished clinician, academic, and author specializing in paediatric hepatology. She serves as a Professor of Paediatric Hepatology at the University of Birmingham and is the Founding Director of the Liver Unit at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Kelly has made significant contributions to the field of paediatric liver disease, liver transplantation, and viral hepatitis in children. She has led numerous national and international multicentre clinical trials and has published extensively on these topics. Her research interests include the genetic basis of neonatal liver disease, cholestatic liver disease, biliary atresia, and autoimmune liver disease. Throughout her career, Professor Kelly has held prestigious positions, including President of the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and the British Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN). She has been recognized with several awards, including the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2016.

CASL Clinical Hepatology Fellowships

Monica Sihota

Being born in Winnipeg, living in Edmonton, and spending the majority of her life in Vancouver thereafter, Monica has been fully immersed in the Canadian culture. She completed her undergraduate degree and medical school training at the University of British Columbia. She returned to Edmonton to complete her Internal Medicine training at the University of Alberta before returning back to Vancouver for her Gastroenterology fellowship. Dr. Sihota will be completing her hepatology training in Miami Florida within the University Health Network and Jackson Memorial Hospital. She has a particularly interested in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease and hopes to advance her research and clinical training within this field, with the hopes of bringing back this expertise to Canada.

Gurjot Minhas

Gurjot Minhas, MD, FRCPC was born and raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta. He graduated with honours from the University of Debrecen in Hungary and then returned to Canada for his Internal Medicine residency at Western University, followed by Gastroenterology training at McMaster University. As Chief Resident in both Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Dr. Minhas has cultivated a strong leadership presence, fostering collaboration and supporting his peers and trainees. His experiences in these roles have reinforced his commitment to balancing clinical excellence with mentorship and education. He is eager to continue growing both as a clinician and a teacher during his fellowship. Dr. Minhas is excited to be selected for the CASL Clinical Fellowship at the University of Toronto’s renowned Francis Family Liver Clinic. This opportunity will allow him to refine his expertise in hepatology and work alongside top specialists in North America at one of the leading liver centres. He looks forward to expanding his skills and contributing to the care of patients with complex liver diseases.