For more than 30 years, the Liver Disease & Hepatitis Program has conducted clinical research into treatment of viral hepatitis and autoimmune liver disease for the health of our Alaska Native people. This research has not only had important implications for the health of the more than 3,500 Alaska Native and American Indian people with chronic liver disease seen at ANMC and in field clinics across the state, but also for national and international clinical guidelines and public health policy ...

In the 1970s, Alaska Native children were dying from liver cancer caused by hepatitis B, a virus that can cause chronic liver disease leading to cirrhosis, liver cancer, liver failure and death. The Liver Disease & Hepatitis Program was launched in 1983 in response to this epidemic, with an initial mission to vaccinate Alaska Native people against the hepatitis B virus, preventing chronic infection and development of liver disease. The vaccine program has been very successful, eradicating acute hepatitis B ...