Speaker: R. Scott Rector, PhD, Professor of Medicine in Nutrition & Exercise Physiology, Medicine-Gastroenterology & Hepatology, University of Missouri-School of Medicine 

Director of the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Building

Research Health Scientist, Harry S. Truman Memorial VA Hospital

Date:  Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, noon-1 p.m.
Location: Tom and Linda Atkins Family Seminar Room, Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building

*Zoom option available

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Description

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a relatively new epidemic that is related to the recent increase in obesity and physical inactivity rates. The disease, which is the most common chronic liver condition among U.S. adults, occurs when excess fat accumulates in the liver. NAFLD affects ~30% of the U.S. adult population and encompasses a histological spectrum ranging from excess liver fat (steatosis) to inflammation (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH), inflammation), scarring (fibrosis), cirrhosis and liver cancer. NAFLD is intimately linked to many other chronic diseases, including insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Unfortunately, there are no drug therapies on the market to treat the advanced stages of the disease. In this presentation, Dr. Rector will provide an overview of exercise and dietary strategies can be used in the management of NAFLD and highlight potential future targets for treating this condition.   

About the Speaker

R. Scott Rector received his PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Missouri in 2007. He then completed an NIH-funded Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in hepatology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. His lab examines exercise and nutritional interventions, as well as molecular interventions to help fight the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemics. His findings have helped lead to a better molecular understanding of how exercise training improves liver health in the prevention and treatment of NAFLD, and his work has established that mitochondrial dysfunction is intimately linked to advanced stages of liver disease (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH). He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and The Obesity Society and serves as a standing member on an NIH-grant review committee. Dr. Rector has close to 150 peer-reviewed publications, and his research program is supported by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs and industry partners.