Norah Terrault, MD, MPH

Norah Terrault

It was meant to be a one-year research fellowship. A brief opportunity for Norah Terrault, MD, MPH to join Teresa L Wright, MD, FAASLD at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to research hepatitis B in the transplant setting. But, in that one year, one award changed everything and began to shape a remarkable career.

Now, one of the most accomplished researchers in the hepatology community, Dr. Terrault remembers the award that changed the trajectory of her career path. “I think my first real bonding with AASLD, and now its Foundation, began when I received my career development award from AASLD,” she says. “I was the first awardee of the Jan Albrecht Commitment to Clinical Research in Liver Disease Award (a $50,000, two-year award) back in 1997. It was, for me, a remarkable source of backing as it allowed me to extend my stay at UCSF to do additional time in clinical research, which opened the door to a faculty position and a wealth of research opportunities.”

More specifically, that one award in 1997 paved the way for Dr. Terrault to finish her fellowship and eventually join the faculty at UCSF, initially as an adjunct assistant professor. Today she is professor of medicine and surgery at the University, and can trace her career path back to that first award.

So, where is Dr. Terrault today? In addition to her teaching position at the University of California San Francisco, Dr. Terrault is an accomplished hepatology researcher, having received CDC and NIH funding for her research to continue unlocking vital discoveries to advance knowledge of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and NASH. She has published over 250 original articles, editorials and reviews and contributed to current guidelines on management of viral hepatitis. Importantly, she remains very involved with the AASLD Foundation, AASLD and the greater hepatology community, including chairing the HCV Special Interest Group, presentations at local, national and international meetings including this year’s AASLD post-graduate course, and serving as a mentor to current Foundation award recipients.

“As a recipient of one of AASLD’s earliest awards, I would like to say to Foundation donors - thank you! The AASLD Foundation award provided me with support at a very critical time in my research training, allowing me to gain additional skills and mentoring in clinical research that ultimately have brought me to where I am today.”

It only took one award to ensure hepatologists, frontline care providers, and patients would benefit from the research of Dr. Terrault: imagine how your one donation can make even more possible?

Additional Funding and Publications

  • Numerous NIH and institutional funding
  • Terrault NA, Zhou, S, McGory R, Pruett T, Lake JR, Roberts JP, Ascher NL, Wright TL. Incidence and clinical consequences of surface and polymerase gene mutations in liver transplant recipients on hepatitis B immunoglobulin. Hepatology, 1998;28:555-61.
  • Coffin CS, Stock PG, Dove LM, Berg CL, Nissen NN, Curry MP, Ragni M, Regenstein FG, Sherman KE, Roland ME, Terrault NA. Virologic and clinical outcomes of hepatitis B virus infection in HIV-HBV coinfected transplant recipients. Am J Transplant. 2010 May;10(5):1268-75
  • Saxena V, Nyberg L, Pauly M, Dasgupta A, Nyberg A, Piasecki B, Winston B, Redd J, Ready J,Terrault NA. Safety and Efficacy of Simeprevir/Sofosbuvir in Hepatitis C-Infected Patients With Compensated and Decompensated Cirrhosis. Hepatology. 2015 Sep;62(3):715-25.

Not an all-inclusive list of funding or publications.