FACULTY

Jalan R.

Background I am a clinician with a strong focus on translational research. I graduated in India, trained in Edinburgh and studied for my PhD in Maastricht. I moved to UCL as a Senior lecturer/Hon Consultant in 2000 and was awarded a personal chair in 2009. I spend about 50% of my time providing patient care as a Hepatologist at the secondary and tertiary level at the Royal Free Hospital where I also run a translational and basic science laboratory. Research Focus and Output My work focused on liver failure. The most important observation we made was the discovery that systemic inflammation played a crucial role in the progression of liver injury and cirrhosis culminating in liver failure leading up to current hypotheses and the seminal observation that acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) was a distinct clinical syndrome with defined clinical, prognostic and pathophysiological characteristics. ACLF is associated with high mortality rates, consumes huge healthcare resources and its treatment is a huge unmet need. In the past 15 years since I described this syndrome first, more than 800 papers have been published on this subject and many research groups and industry are focussed on this subject to better define, prognosticate, understand its pathogenesis and develop new treatments. I have developed a vibrant clinical practice and laboratory with many novel therapies and established extensive collaborations with key investigators, Foundations and Industry around the world to study the pathophysiological basis of ACLF. I was the Founder member of the EASL CLIF Consortium (100 European hospitals), which now stands independently funded with the aim of developing new treatments for cirrhosis and liver failure.