May you live in interesting times

[nash2]

An ironic curse with the clear implication that 'uninteresting times', of peace and tranquillity, are more life-enhancing than interesting ones. Another cautionary message is 'be careful what you wish for', and yet another 'fools rush in where wise men never go'.

Cliche man is here apparently, but the old warnings aren't necessarily wrong. I want to let you know that the foundation has entered an 'interesting time'

We have been greatly honored with support and now it is time for us to stop talking and start dancing. Intercept Pharmaceuticals has agreed to provide the first funding for our screening program and we plan to open our first pilot facility in Houston in the summer. For those who have joined us recently, we advocate building 400 screening centers across the US and to screen 1 million people a year who are at risk for liver disease from the large co-morbid (people with multiple diseases) population.

We have also been invited to present a poster at the 2018 NASH-Summit later this month. This is a gathering of world leaders in liver disease research. At conferences like this industry leaders present their latest results and give talks about where things are headed but they also have an area where promising results can be presented in poster form. Sort of like being the warm-up act for the Beatles. This will be our first experience presenting a poster so that will be 'interesting" but it is an honor. Space is always limited and there are thousands of people working in the field so we were pleased to be included.

In association with Intercept, we are also producing some patient videos and a media campaign to help educate people about liver disease and things they need to know about the system. A major problem in society is that people just don't understand liver disease, its causes, consequences, or management. A central mission of the foundation is to try to improve that.