Despite progress in recent years, much remains unknown about primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a rare, chronic inflammatory liver disease that primarily affects women. 

“It’s always been underappreciated as a horrible disease that’s caused people tremendous loss of quality of life,” says Dr. Russell Rosenblatt, a transplant hepatologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

Russell recently met a PBC patient before an upcoming liver transplant and noticed the patient had high cholesterol levels. Concerned about the patient’s risk of heart attack or stroke, this became the focus of his research into how risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other conditions impact people with PBC. The goal of his work is to improve treatments for PBC patients and change how healthcare providers evaluate risks for heart disease.

Across the Atlantic, Dr. Victoria Mulcahy, a hepatologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the United Kingdom is working to shed light on the biology of PBC. She’s studying the immune pathways involved in PBC-affected liver pathogenesis.

“I need to know exactly what’s going on in the PBC liver,” says Victoria. “I want to understand the immune cells involved, the gene pathways, the gene expression involved.”

Both research physicians have the support of Gilead’s Research Scholars Program (RSP). Introduced in 2008, it supports emerging researchers around the world to advance scientific knowledge in areas of high unmet medical need. This year, the program introduced its first cohort for PBC. In addition to funding, being part of an RSP cohort can lead to mentorship and networking opportunities.

“It's amazing what's happened in PBC in the last couple of years. However, we still only have three or four treatments,” adds Victoria.

“With this grant, I really think we can get to where we want to be, which is changing the way we treat patients,” concludes Russell.