Usama Ahmed Ali, MD, PHD

Dr. Gene Im is a transplant hepatologist and the Director of the Alcohol-associated Liver Disease Program at Columbia known as ADAPT (Advanced inter-Disciplinary Alcohol liver Program and Treatment), a patient-centered, integrated care and research program for patients with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). ADAPT is one of only a few integrated ALD clinics in the country. Dr. Im is an internationally recognized expert in ALD, including alcohol-associated hepatitis and liver transplantation based on his clinical focus and research achievements. He has co-authored several practice-changing articles, including the 2019 ALD Practice Guidance from AASLD, the 2024 MetALD Expert Position Statement, and the first experience of early liver transplantation for alcohol-associated hepatitis in North America. Currently, he is the Vice-Chair of the AASLD ALD Special Interest Group and serves on the Editorial Board for the journal Liver Transplantation. Dr. Im is also the founder of ALD-ALLY (Alcohol-associated Liver Disease patients deserve ALcohol LiteracY), an annual conference focused on actionable initiatives for advancing the science and care of patients with alcohol use disorder and ALD (www.ald-ally.com) Dr. Im is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation and Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases at Columbia University.

Dr. Lebwohl is a graduate of Harvard College, where he majored in music. He received his MD from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2003, and then completed his internship, residency, and chief residency in internal medicine at Columbia. He stayed at Columbia as a fellow in Digestive and Liver Disease, during which time he obtained a Master's in Patient Oriented Research from the Department of Biostatistics at the Mailman School of Public Health. He was a post-doctoral fellow in a National Cancer Institute-funded Training Program in Cancer-Related Population Sciences under the mentorship of Alfred Neugut. He joined the faculty of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University in 2010. Dr. Lebwohl is a past president of the Society for the Study of Celiac Disease, and is the Director of Clinical Research at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, where he collaborates with investigators in the United States and abroad in epidemiology, patterns of care, natural history, and therapeutics. Dr. Lebwohl's second and related research interest is quality of endoscopy, including improving the detection of colorectal adenomas. He has co-authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications. His research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, and past research funding includes the American Gastroenterological Association, the Celiac Disease Foundation, and the American Scandinavian Foundation. Dr. Lebwohl served on the Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee of the United States Food and Drug Administration (2017-2025), including a term as Chair. He is heavily involved in medical education and lectures regularly to trainees on topics including celiac disease, evidence-based medicine, clinical decision making, pseudoscience, diarrhea, the Beethoven string quartets, and colorectal cancer screening.

Jason Hawksworth, MD is a noted pioneer in minimally invasive robotic hepatobiliary and transplant surgery. Dr. Hawksworth is the Surgical Director of Adult Liver Transplantation, Chief of Hepatobiliary Surgery, and the Director of Robotic Liver Surgery Program in the Division of Abdominal Organ Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is an Associate Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Hawksworth is known for unique and innovative minimally invasive robotic surgeries to remove tumors of the liver, bile duct and pancreas, including robotic major hepatectomy, robotic pancreatectomy, and robotic Whipple. He also specializes in robotic transplantation including robotic kidney transplantation, robotic living donor nephrectomy and robotic living donor hepatectomy. Dr. Hawksworth received his undergraduate degree from The United States Military Academy at West point and his medical degree from Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Hawksworth completed general surgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center followed by an abdominal transplant and hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital. Previously the Chief of Robotic Surgery at Georgetown University Hospital, Dr. Hawksworth established one of the nation’s premier robotic hepatobiliary and transplant programs in 2018 at Georgetown. He was recruited to Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2023 to lead the liver transplant and hepatobiliary programs and continue to develop innovative techniques in robotic surgery. Dr. Hawksworth is a member of several key organizations including a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, International Laparoscopic Liver Society, and Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association. His research interests include clinical transplant and hepatobiliary trials, and he has published over 60 scientific manuscripts and book chapters in leading journals such as Annals of Surgery, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, American Journal of Transplantation and Transplantation. Dr. Hawksworth is a Colonel in the Army reserves and has deployed four times to support combat operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Visit The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at columbiasurgery.org/liver.