“To me, it is a great honor being appointed as Director of EF CLIF, which is the home of decompensated cirrhosis. It is also a great challenge because the former Director, Vicente Arroyo, did a fantastic job during the last 15 years creating the EASL-CLIF Consortium and then EF CLIF. Indeed, research conducted under the umbrella of these structures gave rise to a huge amount of high-level scientific publications which provided an evidence-based definition for acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and an extensive description of the clinical, cellular and molecular landscape of acutely decompensated cirrhosis, particularly ACLF.”

“My vision for the next years is totally inspired by what has been the success of EF CLIF until now. With the help of Anna Bosch, the Data Management Center and members of the EF CLIF Governing Board, I will take care that EF CLIF could conduct relevant clinical and translational studies with the following objectives: 

• The first objective will be to perform new clinical interventional studies involving the huge network of European liver units that are affiliated to the EASL-CLIF Consortium led by Paolo Angeli. Another mission of the clinical research chapter of EF CLIF will be to publish results of the last large observational study conducted by EF CLIF, the CHANCE study, which investigated liver transplantation for severe ACLF under the leadership of Thierry Gustot and Rajiv Jalan. 
• The second objective will be to develop studies using granular data collected in the three first seminal observational studies (CANONIC, PREDICT, and ACLARA) and merged in a “metadata base” whose harmonization has been obtained via the joined efforts of Javier Fernández, Head of Clinical Operations, and the Data Management Center led by Cristina Sánchez-Garrido. This second objective will be the focus of the Inspiring and Writing Group led by Thierry Gustot. 
• The third objective will be to further characterize cellular and molecular features of systemic inflammation in well-annotated subgroups of patients with acutely decompensated cirrhosis This will be the mission of the EF CLIF chapter dedicated to translational research, which is directed by Joan Clària. In addition, the translational chapter will address the major question of alterations in gut microbiota associated with impairment of intestinal barrier function, which result in abnormal microbial translocation (involving viable microbes and/or microbial by-products) and subsequent perturbations of host immunity. Overall, translational research conducted under the umbrella of EF CLIF should identify cellular and/or molecular targets for novel therapeutic approaches that may be of interest for current or potential industrial partners. 

During the next years, I will favor the diversification of the sources of funding for the Foundation through new partnerships with the industry and application to new European grants. The process of diversification of funding has been started at the beginning of 2024 with the creation of a new partnership with GENFIT, a biotechnological company dedicated to improving care of patients with ACLF.”

Prof. Moreau will serve in his position until the end of 2026. He joins other appointed Governing Board members Professor Paolo Angeli, Professor Thierry Gustot, Mrs. Cristina Sánchez-Garrido, Professor Joan Clària, Dr. med. Javier Fernández, Professor Rajiv Jalan, Professor Jonel Trebicka, and Dr. Anna Bosch. Learn more about our updated governance structure.