EASL Recognition Awardee 2012: Professor Scott L. Friedman

Abstract

Scott L. Friedman, Fishberg Professor of Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, USA, received the EASL International Recognition Award during the 2012 International Liver Congress in Barcelona and I was honored to introduce the Award in front of the massive audience of the plenary session. The preparation of the presentation for the Award to Scott Friedman gave me the opportunity to elaborate on the meaning of the word ‘‘recognition’’, i.e. credit, acknowledgement, appreciation, respect. Indeed, any of these words reflects the gratitude of the Hepatology community for the contribution of Scott Friedman to the great progress of the scientific knowledge in this area of medicine and the advancements in clinical practice. Scott L. Friedman is a 1979 graduate of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. After graduation, he became a Medical Resident at the Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, then a Gastroenterology Fellow at UCSF before taking a faculty position there, which he held for 10 years. During a 1995–96 sabbatical from UCSF, he was a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, in the laboratory of Dr. Moshe Oren. In 1997, Scott returned to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where he held the position of Fishberg Professor of Medicine. Since 2001, he is Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases. In 2003, Scott was awarded the Hans Popper International Liver Research Prize, recognizing his pioneering work into mechanisms and treatments of hepatic fibrosis. He has authored over 300 scientific articles, and he has served as mentor to over 50 students, physicians, and postdoctoral trainees. As President of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in 2009, Scott oversaw several major new initiatives that accelerated the growth of this organization. Liver fibrosis is the area where Scott has provided a fundamental contribute with his pioneering research in the 1980s and with the following almost 30 years of research activity always at the top level. His work has spawned an entire field that is now realizing its translational and therapeutic potential, with