About Dr. Gish

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ROBERT G. GISH, MD FAASLD

Robert G. Gish
Robert G. Gish Consultants, LLC
Professor of Medicine, Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, CA

Clinical Professor, Adjunct, Department of Medicine, University of Nevada in Las Vegas

Adjunct Professor, University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine

Adjunct Professor, UCSD, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
San Diego, CA

Medical Director, Hepatitis B Foundation
Doylestown, PA

Medical Director, Asian Pacific Health Foundation
San Diego, CA
Transparency and the PPSA
Short Speaker Biography
Full Biography
Full Curriculum Vitae
Disclosures (May 2021)

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Dr. Gish began his medical training in 1974 when he was enrolled in the Pharmacy School at the University of Kansas. He transferred to the University of Kansas Medical School in 1977 and finished his MD degree in 1980.

Dr. Gish went on to complete a 3-year Internal Medicine residency at the University of California, San Diego and a 4-year Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellowship including transplant medicine at the University of California Los Angeles during which time he was awarded the NIH Physician Scientist Award to study calcium signaling in liver cells.

After completing his training, Dr. Gish moved to San Francisco and took a position at the California Pacific Medical Center (formerly known as Pacific Presbyterian Hospital). He became the Co-Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program in 1988 and then the Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program in 1994 until 2010. In that role, he developed an outreach program that eventually served over 35,000 patients in the Northern California and Nevada regions and made the CPMC a leading liver transplant center.

Dr. Gish had and continues to have an active research program in viral hepatitis, liver transplant, bioartificial livers, and public policy especially related to liver cancer, liver transplantation, and viral hepatitis. Although his primary research focus is clinical research, he frequently collaborates with basic scientists in his research activities. He has published more than 600 original articles, review articles, abstracts and book chapters.

Dr. Gish is also actively involved in numerous professional societies and is a long-term member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, European Association for the Study of Liver Disease, Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, and the American Society of Transplantation.

He is a fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease. Dr. Gish has served on the editorial boards of American Journal of Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Liver Transplantation and Surgery, and Journal of Viral Hepatitis among many others. He has co-authored a public health policy for liver health in Vietnam and is also assisting with the development of healthcare policies in Armenia and the Philippines.

In December 2010, Dr. Gish moved to San Diego to join the faculty of UCSD as a Clinical Professor of Medicine, Section Chief of Hepatology, and Director of the Center of Excellence for Hepatobiliary Disease and Abdominal Transplantation (C.H.A.T.).

In September of 2013, Dr. Gish left UCSD to form a consulting company, Robert G. Gish Consultants LLC to provide consultative support to Hepatology Centers and Liver Transplant Programs who wish to start or grow their programs through pathways of quality and optimal patient care that is integrated with research and education.

At that time, Dr. Gish joined Dr. Manch at St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center to start a liver transplant center and worked to establish a UNOS and Medicare certified program in 2016. Between April 2014 and June 2019, Dr. Gish served at Stanford’s Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Liver Transplant Service Line as a Staff Physician with major roles with in-reach and outreach as well as program development.

Over the years of 2012 to current, Dr. Gish has been and continues to be very active with the National Viral Hepatitis Round Table (NVHR) a patient and community advocacy non-profit organization. In February of 2014, Dr. Gish joined the Hepatitis B Foundation, (HBF) as their Medical Director to lend his policy, advocacy and clinical science skills to their armamentarium.

Today, Dr. Gish is a Professor Medicine at Loma Linda University, an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas, a Clinical Professor at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, and a Clinical Professor at the University of California Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In addition, he is also the Medical Director of the Hepatitis B Foundation and Medical Director of the Asian Pacific Health Foundation. Dr. Gish has joined the consulting faculty at La Maestra in San Diego to establish a liver care program in the Federally Qualified Health Care clinic. He is currently seeing patients, both in-person and via telemedicine, at various clinics in San Diego, Folsom, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Valley Springs and via Telemed2U.

Areas of Expertise

Liver Centers

Liver Centers and Liver Transplant Programs

Dr. Gish became the Co-Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program at the California Pacific Medical Center in 1988. He developed an outreach program that now serves over 35,000 patients in Northern California and Nevada, making CPMC a leading liver transplant center. Dr. Gish joined the faculty of University of California San Diego in several capacities, including Director of the Center for Hepatobiliary Disease and Abdominal Transplantation. He also became Director of Clinical Hepatology at UCSD in 2010. His research on Regional Review Boards may also change public policies on liver transplants in the United States. This research supports the replacement of the current RRB system with a national review board that uses clinical expertise to assign priorities. The goal of this system is to allocate organs equitably while improving compliance with the HHS Final Rule.
Liver Centers

Research

Dr. Gish's pharmaceutical research includes a 2011 Phase III study on the effects of BI 201335, pegylated interferon-a and ribavirin on patients infected with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C. He was also the principle investigator in an ongoing study on screening for viral hepatitis and its economic effects on healthcare. Another study conducted by Dr. Gish involves the analysis of liver patients at UCSD in 2012.

Dr. Gish was the principle investigator in a study that was started in 2012 to investigate the effects of PSI-352938, PSE-7977 and Ribavirin in patients with Chronic HCV. He was also investigating the challenges of educating Asians in San Diego County on Hepatitis B in a study that began in 2012.

Dr. Gish was an investigator in studies that led to the development of tests for HBV and HCV and most recently a 2005 study on DNA HBV genotyping and molecular profiling in newly recruited, HBV and HCV patients. He was also an investigator in a 2006 study that used molecular signatures to predict interferon response in patients infected with hepatitis C.
Liver Centers

Health Policy and Patient Advocacy

Dr. Gish has been involved with patient care and patient advocacy groups dating back to 1988 when he became involved with the American Liver Foundation. Since that time, he has been active with a number of organizations including the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, Viral Hepatitis Action Coalition, the Fair Foundation, Center for Eradication of Viral Hepatitis/Asia Pacific Organization, HEPDART, World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, Hepatitis B Free (San Francisco and San Diego), Hepatitis B Foundation, Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors, Viral Hepatitis Foundation, and Hepatitis Foundation for Vietnam.

Dr. Gish's international advocacy career focuses on public policy in Vietnam, Philippines, and Armenia. His team wrote a white paper on Health Care and Liver Health in Vietnam that was published in a peer-reviewed publication. Additional projects in Vietnam and the Philippines include protocols that advance screening for viral hepatitis and linkage to care, as well as global liver health issues including obesity, fatty liver, and alcohol induced liver disease. The newest addition to Dr. Gish's global health policy work is in Armenia, where he is developing a white paper for that country's 5-year Liver Health Policy.

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