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Hepatitis B and C Infections

Clinical Strengths

The hepatitis clinic at the CCH Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center is a multidisciplinary clinic for the management of patients with chronic viral hepatitis with or without HIV co-infection. The hepatitis clinic runs every other week and referrals come from the CORE center, the ambulatory clinics of the CCH and from a variety of community clinics in the Chicagoland area. In 2016, the hepatitis clinic team led the initiative to incorporate system wide HCV birth cohort screening (1945-1965) and in 2017 added the reflex HCV RNA testing—all of which led to an increase in demand for hepatitis services, with commiserate high cure rates for HCV among all patient populations treated with pan-genotypic direct-acting antivirals. As of June 2022, over 7,000 fibroscans have been performed at the CORE hepatitis clinic, including screening and staging for hepatosteatosis. Goal for infectious diseases fellows during their training is to gain in-depth experience and familiarity with the clinical management of chronic viral hepatitis B and C. In addition fellows will observe fibroscans done in the clinic and incorporate the results into real-time management of the patients.

Research Excellence

The hepatitis clinic has generated numerous presentations at national and international conferences, as well as peer-reviewed publications, based upon our clinical experience and as a cohort site for The Trio Network. Fellows are encouraged and supported through mentorship by Drs. Huhn and Mercon, in addition to our outstanding clinical pharmacist staff, to pursue research in both therapeutic and translational areas of viral hepatitis and steatosis. Recent fellow presentations and publications include: