International Seminar Series on Liver Toxicity and Steatotic Liver Disease

Good morning,

We warmly welcome you to the International Seminar Series on Liver Toxicity and Steatotic Liver Disease. Remember that in order to improve our understanding of the topic and to promote collaboration in our research efforts, we will be organising a series of seminars every month.

Next week, we have a new session, on 15th October (Wednesday) from 16:30h to 17:30h (CEST). Your participation is vital to enrich the discussions, and we look forward to hearing your ideas.

Dr. Díaz is an Assistant Professor of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California San Diego, USA. He was trained as a Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine specialist at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. As a clinical researcher, he focuses on translational and clinical studies in steatotic liver disease. He has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications on gastrointestinal and liver diseases in high-impact journals and co-authored 11 book chapters. He co-leads multinational studies on alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), including the Global AlcHep Network and STELLA. He serves on the Steering Committee of the ALD Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and chairs the ALD and Public Health SIGs of the Latin American Association for the Study of the Liver (ALEH). Brief Summary: Steatotic liver disease (SLD) represents a heterogeneous spectrum that includes both metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and drug-induced forms, which often overlap in clinical and histologic presentation. Several drugs can induce hepatic steatosis or steatohepatitis through mechanisms involving mitochondrial toxicity, oxidative stress, and altered lipid metabolism. In contrast, patients with MASLD may have increased susceptibility to drug-induced liver injury (DILI), amplifying the risk and severity of hepatotoxicity. Differentiating between metabolic and drug-related causes requires careful evaluation of medication history, temporal associations, and exclusion of other etiologies, as both conditions may coexist and interact. In this talk, we will discuss the most relevant features of both SLD subtypes in clinical practice.