Mariana Lazo Elizondo
Drexel University, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Deaths from liver disease are one reason life expectancy in the United States has recently fallen. Fatty liver disease, a buildup of fat in the liver, is now the most common chronic liver condition and includes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcohol-related liver disease.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Social Science
- Topics
fatty liver disease
alcohol-related liver disease
liver fat
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Characterize racial/ethnic disparities in fatty liver disease incidence over 10 years in the MESA cohort using CT-measured liver fat and liver enzymes, while accounting for genetic variants such as PNPLA3.
- Test whether individual-level education, income and psychosocial stressors including chronic stress and depressive symptoms prospectively predict fatty liver disease and its socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities.
- Examine whether neighborhood socioeconomic and physical features, such as healthy food availability and alcohol outlet density, predict fatty liver disease incidence and its racial/ethnic disparities.
- Test gene-by-environment interactions to determine whether neighborhood context magnifies individual genetic vulnerability to fatty liver disease in this multi-ethnic cohort.
More about the research
Racial and ethnic minorities and people with low socioeconomic position carry more of this burden. Most research has focused on individual habits such as weight and drinking, or on genes like PNPLA3, and individually focused prevention has had limited success. This project asks whether the social and physical conditions of the places people live also shape who develops fatty liver disease.
Why it matters
Fatty liver disease affects millions and falls hardest on racial and ethnic minority and lower-income communities. Evidence linking neighborhood conditions, such as access to healthy food or the density of alcohol outlets, to liver fat accumulation could identify community-level targets for prevention and policy that reach further than advice aimed at individuals alone.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Nicholette Allred
Wake Forest University, NC·Genetics
Identify rare genetic variants associated with liver fat in 23,156 ethnically diverse TOPMed participants, using whole genome sequencing with single-variant and gene-level rare-variant burden tests.
Jian-Min Yuan
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Enroll and follow at least 1,000 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and advanced fibrosis, tracking liver stiffness by transient elastography every six months for up to five years.
Norah Terrault
University of Southern California, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Examine how centers select patients with severe alcohol-associated liver disease for early liver transplantation, using selection-meeting recordings, checklists and clinician interviews to find sources of bias and unequal access.
The school
Drexel University: 11 labs on PI Pages, $170M a year on research, 282 research doctorates a year.
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