The Obesity-MASH Connection: Clinical Insights From the 2026 ADA Scientific Sessions

Welcome back to another AJMC Insights series. In this episode titled, 'MASH in Focus: How Patient Awareness, Clinical Empowerment, and Research Have Transformed the Field,' Nadege Gunn, MD led the conversation about the following questions: 1. As a hepatologist, how has the MASH patient population changed over the last decade? 2. Do you feel the broader medical community has kept pace with that shift? 3. How much of your current liver disease caseload would you attribute to metabolic and obesity-driven disease versus other etiologies?

In this episode, 'Screening, Risk Stratification, and the Multidisciplinary Care Model for MASH,' the hepatologist Nadege Gunn, MD explores the following questions: 1. How would you characterize the urgency of MASH as a public health problem for a primary care physician who may see the early signs? 2. In an ideal world, what does the multidisciplinary care model for a MASH patient with significant obesity look like? How far is current clinical practice from that ideal, and where do the current gaps exist?