Alla Y. Grigorian, MD, PhD

I am a gastroenterologist by training, and I continue practicing gastroenterology. But liver disease has been very fascinating and very personal for me. It was personal because it affected multiple family members in several generations. Also, it’s a specialty that sits on the intersection of medicine and surgery.

The transplant side of it is where you really have an ability to save patients. There is no other place in the field of gastroenterology where you come so close to saving patients’ lives. You won’t believe how much energy we get from seeing patients being extremely sick one day and thinking, ‘Well, if this transplant doesn’t come within the next few days, we don’t have much more time to go,’ to seeing patients sitting in their beds eating breakfast a few days later and looking great.

All of a sudden, a new life opens in front of them. It’s like witnessing the second birth of a person. It’s an amazing feeling for every person involved in that process.