University of Florida Health Advances Care for Patients with Hepatitis C

Researchers at University of Florida Health have played a pivotal role in developing new treatments and improving health outcomes for patients with hepatitis C. David Nelson, M.D., interim senior vice president of health affairs at the University of Florida and president of UF Health, is a professor of medicine and a nationally recognized expert in liver diseases.

“UF Health is home to a large hepatitis C observational cohort study and is leading two large, multi-center randomized controlled trials on hepatitis C,” said Nelson. Clinical research at UF Health has not only advanced drug discovery in the field, but is now uncovering real-world evidence on the economic and clinical impacts of hepatitis C therapies. UF Health’s latest findings from a study that compares the top hepatitis C treatments in real-world populations, which is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes and Research Institute, will be presented in Vienna in April 2019.

Nelson’s leadership in hepatitis C research was recognized in 2013 with the Clinical Research Forum’s Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award. He also plays an active role in developing national and international guidelines for the management of hepatitis C. He is the U.S. representative on the World Health Organization’s hepatitis C virus guidelines committee and has co-authored the U.S. guidelines for hepatitis C treatment and the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium guidelines on genomic-guided hepatitis C virus therapy.

Nelson directs the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UF Health, which is focused on accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries from the bench to the bedside to improve patient care across a wide range of diseases. The institute’s funding through two National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Awards totaling more than $42 million makes UF Health a nationally recognized hub for translational science.

“UF Health has played an important role in drug discovery for hepatitis C treatments and we’re now in a position to uncover the real-world impact of these treatments to improve patient health outcomes,” said Nelson.