Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Graduated with Honors from the University of California in Los Angeles with a I-year fellowship in anatomic pathology, completed residencies in Internal Medicine and subsequently Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellowships at Cornell University Hospitals in New York City, Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, and National Institutes of Health (Endocrinology and Health and Human Services branches) in Bethesda, Maryland. He has held Professorships in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky, Loyola University in Maywood, IL, Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He currently in private practice of Hepatology and Gastroenterology as well as transplantation, in Berwyn IL. Dr. David Van Thiel's lifetime focus has been all types of liver disease and their various complications as well as the appropriate timing for evaluation and subsequent liver transplantation. He is recognized as The Medical Father of Liver Transplantation in the United States. His principal current interests include: alcoholic liver disease in all of its various presentations, chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C, fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), secondary biliary cirrhosis, chronic active liver disease and cirrhosis, metabolic liver diseases to include alpha-I antitrypsin deficiency, hemochromatosis, the various porphyria's, Alagille 'disease, drug induced liver disease, granulomatous liver disease, Wilson's disease, inborn errors of metabolism that affect the liver, Byler's disease, Familial Benign Recurrent Cholestasis, Polycystic Liver disease, cirrhosis associated with Cystic Fibrosis, Caroli's disease, and other heritable liver diseases. Because of his interest in fatty liver disease and its various subtypes, his office is equipped with the most complete abdominal ultrasound equipment using the Super Sonic (MACH 30) imaging system with Shear Wave Elastography and the MACH V4 software to quantify hepatic fibrosis, stiffness, and steatosis, characteristics required to appropriately classify individual subtypes of generic fatty liver disease. This equipment eliminates the need for liver biopsy in greater than 85% of the cases. His office is 1 of the 5 facilities in the USA to have this equipment. He has been recognized by the medical world as being a former President of the Midwest Society for Clinical Research, Association for the study of liver Disease in the United States, Fellowship in the European Association for the Study of Liver Disease, President of the Research Society for Alcoholism, as well more than 1334 peer-reviewed publications resulting in his receiving the Marquis Award for a lifetime of excellence in medical publications. Importantly in 2022, he was recognized by Research.com, one of the major websites for Medicine since as 2014, as orje of the top medical scientists in the world and 40th in the too 100 medical scientists in the USA, In addition, he was the most frequently cited Author of Liver Disease Publications in the USA.
Liver Diseases