Learn more about our research endeavors
Research Portfolios
For graduate and post-graduate research training opportunities please reach out directly to the Primary Investigator of interest. Please note, ONLY emails regarding research related enquiries will be answered.
QA/QI Research
Mayur Brahmania, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Dr. Brahmania’s research interest center around quality of care provided to patient living with chronic liver disease, specifically with liver cancer and cirrhosis. He leads one of the largest liver cancer surveillance programs in the world looking at how liver cancer surveillance can impact outcomes and to delineate quality gaps patient experience in completing these type of programs. He is also working on developing and evaluating quality indicators is hospitalized patients with cirrhosis
Translational: Hepatitis B
Carla Coffin, MD, MSc FRCPC
Dr. Coffin’s lab is interested in evaluating the natural history of chronic and occult hepatitis B (OBI) using the Woodchuck HBV model, better understanding the pathogenesis of viral hepatitis B and D in targeted populations including patients who are pregnant, immunocompromised, post-transplant, or have concurrent metabolic dysfunction steatotic liver disease. She also an active clinical trialist with the CLU.
Health Economics
Stephen Congly, MD FRCPC
The overarching theme of Dr. Congly’s research aims to better utilize limited clinical resources and understand potential disparities in access to care. He has created economic models evaluating patients diagnosed with hepatitis B, hepatic encephalopathy and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in the community. He has also evaluated policies for liver transplantation in Canada including for liver cancer and drug access in GI and hepatology. He is currently performing clinical trials with the CLU.
Translational: Gut-Liver Axis
Henry Nguyen, MD FRCPC
Thematically, Dr. Nguyen’s research revolves around better understanding disease mechanisms to ultimately improve clinical care for patients with chronic liver disease. His lab is currently focused on evaluating how host immune responses, gut microbiota perturbations, and sex can augment liver disease outcomes. He has applied this lens of focus across the spectrum of bench to bedside translational liver research. He is also an active clinical trialist with the CLU.
Translational: Gut-Brain Axis
Mark Swain, MD, MSc FRCPC
Dr. Swain’s lab studies how activation of hepatic immunity during chronic liver disease leads to progressive liver damage and incapacitating liver disease-associated symptoms. He is also an active clinical trial specialist in Calgary (>450 industry-funded and investigator-initiated clinical trials for liver disease since 1993)