UF Researchers Granted $2 Million for Liver Disease Research

UF Health researchers were granted more than $2 million to screen for fatty liver disease, in what could be the largest study of its kind.

The National Institute of Health grant will fund the screening of more than 1,000 patients over the next two-and-a-half years.

“The ultimate goal is to diagnoses scarring — the medical term is fibrosis — at an early stage to prevent people from developing cirrhosis,” Dr. Kenneth Cusi said, the chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism in the Department of Medicine at the University of Florida. “We’re trying to identify these problems before they’re unfixable. Once someone has cirrhosis, there isn’t a whole lot you can do.”

In the current study, patients who are screened for liver inflammation and fibrosis at outpatient primary care clinics, including general internal medicine, family medicine and endocrinology, will be assessed, if they agree to participate and meet eligibility requirements.

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