(From left to right) Arun Sanyal, M.D., director of VCU’s Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health; Abhijit Chowdhury, M.D., of the Liver Foundation, West Bengal; and Arnab Basu, M.D., of the Friends of the Liver Foundation, West Bengal. / The Liver Foundation and VCU

Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health which seeks to expand its international collaborations to train the liver specialists of the future and the Liver Foundation, a not-for-profit, non-government organization in West Bengal, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to exchange and build knowledge of liver disease.

Arun Sanyal, M.D., a professor at the VCU School of Medicine and director of the liver institute, joined colleagues and U.S. officials in Kolkata, India, to mark the MoU with the foundation."Impact-focused collaborations like this are driving VCU's growing reputation for research," said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, who signed the agreements on behalf of VCU.

The agreements allow trainees to visit the VCU Liver Institute to learn and work alongside its world-class liver specialists, gaining comprehensive clinical and research experience in gastroenterology, transplant hepatology and transplant surgery. “Our collaborations with our academic partner institutions across the world are a foundation to actualize our vision of like-minded academic physicians, educators and scientists across the world to work together toward our common goal of improving liver and metabolic health and reducing the burden of liver disease,” Sanyal said.

Abhijit Chowdhury, M.D., chief mentor of the Liver Foundation, West Bengal and clinical director of its research arm, the Indian Institute of Liver and Digestive Sciences, said the collaboration holds promise not just for educational exchanges but for the health and well-being of India and the U.S.

As per the agreed terms of collaboration, VCU and VCU Health liver specialists will visit Kolkata in a few months to provide training at the Liver Foundation, West Bengal.