Hepatology at Mount Sinai: the present and the future

The Division of Liver Disease at Mount Sinai, now into its fifth decade, has evolved through two remarkable periods in its development and is on the cusp of a third exciting era. The first, extending from the division's creation in 1957 to the retirement in 1988 of its first division chief, Fenton Schaffner, was characterized by brilliant clinical and pathophysiologic insights derived from the unique collaboration of Schaffner, a master clinician, with Hans Popper, a world renowned pathologist widely acknowledged as the father of the modern discipline of hepatology. The second, extending from the appointment in 1988 of Paul D. Berk as Schaffner's successor to the present day, has witnessed enormous growth in the clinical and scientific activities of the division, together with the emergence of a world-class liver transplant program at Mount Sinai. During this recent period, an extensive program of formal clinical research was established; the basic research program then expanded into the areas of hepatic transport, molecular virology, and the cellular and molecular pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis; and both the clinical and research productivity of the division increased dramatically. A major undertaking, now in its second year, has been the creation of the Center for the Study of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis; Mount Sinai has contributed important advances toward the understanding of this disease. Funding for the Center, from the Artzt Family Foundation Trust, supports a series of interrelated basic studies on the immunology and pathobiology of the disease, as well as creation of a unique clinical database, a serum and tissue bank, and a program of clinical studies. This integration of basic and clinical research in pursuit of new methods of diagnosis and treatment serves as a model for the division's continued leadership role.