Director, Professor

Dr. Kowdley received his BS in Biology and Anthropology as a member of the Dean’s List at Columbia University, and his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at Oregon Health Science University and a Fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Dr. Kowdley is internationally recognized as a clinician, educator, and researcher in the area of liver disease and has presented his research on liver diseases at more than 150 national and international meetings and scientific symposia. He is the author of more than 400 articles, book chapters, reviews, and commentaries in this area and has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Surgery, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, American Journal of Physiology, New England Journal of Medicine, and among other professional publications.

Dr. Kowdley has extensive experience in clinical trials in all areas of liver disease, ranging from hepatitis C, cholestatic liver disease, PBC, PSC, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and hepatitis B. He has been a principal investigator in several NIDDK-sponsored clinical trials in primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and is a member of the executive committee of the nonalcoholic steatohepatitis clinical research network (NASH CRN). Dr. Kowdley has also served as the lead investigator of several major international clinical trials in hepatitis C.

Dr. Kowdley's laboratory program is focused on the role of iron as a co-factor in many liver diseases, ranging from hepatitis C, hemochromatosis, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). He has developed murine models for NASH and is currently exploring the contribution of hepatic iron deposition to the severity of NASH. Dr. Kowdley’s research program has been continuously funded by the NIDDK since 1999 in addition to several grants from foundations and scientific societies.