WELCOME MESSAGE

Dear Colleagues,

It is with immense pleasure that the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the Turkish Association for the Study of the Liver (TASL) announce our seventh joint AASLD-TASL Hepatology CONNECT conference. This annual program reflects the shared commitment of the two societies to delivering the highest quality of care to our patients, advancing knowledge through research and collaboration, and investing in the future by training the best-qualified hepatology workforce in both countries.

Following a highly successful 2025 CONNECT program, we are putting together the 2026 program to be even more impactful.  The mainstay of the program is practical updates, including the highly informative The Liver Meeting (TLM) Debriefs in major areas of hepatology.  We have made our delivery most effective by instituting interactive, case-based discussions that draw on the expertise of both American and Turkish faculty.  Another highly successful feature of the program is debates on topics of controversy, which engage the entire audience as well as AASLD faculty judges.  Finally, we dedicated the first part of the program to highlighting the scientific achievements of Turkish junior investigators, which promote academic dialogues that have led to research collaboration.  The program will cover all major areas of hepatology, including steatotic liver diseases from metabolic dysfunction and alcohol, viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver transplantation, and liver cancer. 

A popular feature of the program, an innovation from the COVID era, is that we offer attendees of our AASLD-TASL Hepatology CONNECT program from Türkiye and the surrounding region to also register, at no additional cost, for TLM later this year in Washington, DC, in person or online.  This affords the Turkish hepatologists access to essentially all of the scientific programming at TLM.  On the AASLD side, we will again offer US attendees of TLM 2025 to register for the CONNECT program at a nominal cost.  By attending both meetings, participants will gain a unique understanding of the science and practice of liver disease.

We are grateful to partner with organizations and sponsors that share our vision of collaboration and advancement. Your support of this meeting is vital so that we can provide attendees with the highest quality meeting experience. It is particularly important under the current international and economic circumstances that challenge scientific and educational programs like this. AASLD and TASL stand together that it is our shared mission to provide the best care to our patients with liver disease and alleviate their suffering no matter the difficulty.  In addition, our partnership is mutually beneficial - there will be opportunities for satellite symposia, exhibits, and product theaters, and in-person interactions with hundreds of attendees from Türkiye and all over the region. 

On behalf of AASLD and TASL, we would like to thank you in advance for your participation.  Your engagement and support directly propel us to carry out our mission to prevent and ultimately cure liver disease in Türkiye and worldwide.