The history of liver disease at The Mount Sinai Hospital

Diseases of the liver and biliary tract interested the physicians of The Mount Sinai Hospital from. the time the hospital started until the present. indeed, the institution has become a well-recognized center for the study of the Liver and its diseases. During the first 75 years of the hospital, there were many admissions for hepatobiliary diseases, resulting in many case reports. The evolution of the hospital into a teaching hospital brought with it a more systematic method of studying diseases, not only in Pathology under Paul Klemperer, but in Clinical Chemistry and Microbiology as well. Liver biopsy was also attempted. With the arrival of Hans Popper in 1957, the emphasis shifted to coordinated studies of both normal and abnormal liver structure and function in diseases. Soon, Liver Diseases (Hepatology) was split from Gastroenterology, with Fenton Schaffner as the first chief. Over the next 30 years, more than 1000 papers, chapters and books were published. The main areas of research were fibrosis, cholestasis (especially morphology and bile salt metabolism), toxic liver injury, metabolic transformations and carcinogenesis. Primary biliary cirrhosis and viral hepatitis were and continue to be special interests. Fellows from all over the world were trained and many moved on to leadership positions. Although he was active in the development of the liver transplant program, Popper did not live to see its start. A new generation of hepatologists maintains the interest and position of The Mount Sinai Hospital in this important field of medicine.