A Special Interview with Prof. Manuel Romero Gómez

On Sep 8, 2022, the Editorial Office of Hepatoma Research was very honored and delighted to have a special interview with Prof. Manuel Romero Gómez, Full Professor of Medicine at the University of Seville, Head of Digestive Diseases Department at Virgen del Rocío University Hospitals and Head of the group for translational research in liver diseases (SeLiver) at Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBIS). Meanwhile, the Associate Editor of Hepatoma Research, Prof. Xuehong Zhang, from Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Co-Chair of Epidemiological and Clinical Data Management Committee, African HepatoPancreatoBiliary Cancers Consortium (AHPBCC), joined the special interview as a special interviewer and had an in-depth interaction with Prof. Romero Gómez.

Biography of the Interviewee

Manuel Romero Gómez, is a Full Professor of Medicine at the University of Seville, Spain, Head of Digestive Diseases Department at Virgen del Rocío University Hospitals, Head of the group for translational research in liver diseases (SeLiver) at Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBIS), Coordinator of the Spanish Registry of NAFLD/NASH (HepaMET) and co-coordinator of the EASL supported European Registry of NAFLD, and Principal Investigator of the group for research in the Viral Hepatitis area in the Spanish Network for Research in Digestive and liver diseases (CiberEHD). He is actively involved in NASH-related European Projects: Sub-project-7 leader at European project FLIP (2010-2013), external advisor at EPOS (2015-2019) and National Leader at LITMUS (2017-2022). He received the XI Award Javier Benjumea Puigcerverin investigation, Universidad de Sevilla-Focus Abengoa, 2014. He was awarded the Medal of The City of Seville in 2016. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers on gastrointestinal and liver diseases.

In the exclusive interview, Prof. Romero Gómez shared his professional insights about NAFLD and MAFLD in his newly published articles “Non-invasive tests accurately stratify patients with NAFLD based on their risk of liver-related events” and “Global multi-stakeholder endorsement of the MAFLD definition”. Besides, Prof. Romero Gómez presented his research interests over the next few years and kindly provided his suggestions for early career researchers.

Here are the details of the interview:

Q1. You recently published a paper titled “Non-invasive tests accurately stratify patients with NAFLD based on their risk of liver-related events”. Can you talk about the impact and significance of this study, and share your views on the current knowledge gaps in this field and the needed investigation in the future?

Q2. You recently published a letter titled “Global multi-stakeholder endorsement of the MAFLD definition”. Can you elaborate on your insights on this new definition (i.e., MAFLD vs. NAFLD), and how it improves patient care?

Q3. What are your research interests this year or years ahead?

Q4. What piece of advice will you give to the younger generation pursuing a research career?

We sincerely appreciate Prof. Romero Gómez and Prof. Zhang for their support for the interview! At present, Hepatoma Research has organized a series of special interviews with influential liver cancer experts in the world. We expect to meet more international outstanding scientists in this field to share their academic achievements and professional experiences.