NSW hepatologist Professor Jacob George has received a distinguished achievement award from the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL).

The Okuda-Omata Award is conferred to an individual who has made scientific contributions of outstanding significance and held leadership roles in the field of hepatology.

Professor George is head of the Westmead Hospital department of gastroenterology and hepatology and has research interests in fatty liver disease. He is also chair of hepatic medicine at Sydney Medical School, and director of the Storr Liver Centre at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR).

“It’s a really great honour to receive this award, and speaks to the high quality of medical research in Australia,” Professor George said.

“It is impossible in this day and age for a researcher to work alone. All the work has been done by the team at the Storr Liver Centre which includes Westmead Hospital clinicians, PhD students who came through Westmead, and WIMR researchers. It is an honour for them.”

The award is named in honour of the late Professor Kunio Okuda, inventor of the Okuda’s needle used in liver biopsies, and Professor Masao Omata.

Professor Okuda founded APASL in 1978 with Brisbane hepatologist Professor Lawrie Powell AC. Prof George trained under Professor Powell before coming to Sydney.

Professor George says that with the increasing global prevalance of obesity, fatty liver disease is set to take over from viral hepatitis as the major burden of liver disease.