Filter the Facts: Are Your Diet and Drinking Habits Scarring Your Liver?

Meena B. Bansal, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and System Chief for the Division of Liver Diseases at Mount Sinai. After completing her gastroenterology/hepatology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Bansal joined the faculty at Mount Sinai in 2001. She maintained an NIH funded research program focused on molecular mechanism of liver fibrosis with seminal contributions to our understanding of liver fibrosis in people living with HIV. Concurrently, Dr. Bansal held many leadership roles at Mount Sinai, including the inaugural Transplant Hepatology Fellowship Director, Director of Translational Research for the Liver Diseases Division, Medical Director of all Mount Sinai Hospital-Based Clinics, Chief Medical Officer of Mount Sinai Care, LLC, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Mount Sinai Health Partners, and Vice President of Population Health for Quality and Efficiency. In these latter roles, she oversaw the generation of increased quality dollars in value-based contracts, created Mount Sinai’s first ambulatory pharmacy program and addressed broad population health needs. Dr. Bansal has also served as the principal investigator for numerous clinical trials and clinical/translational investigator-initiated studies in MASH. She launched the Mount Sinai MASLD/MASH Center of Excellence in 2022 which has enrolled over 1,200 patients. At the national/international level, she is an invited speaker around the world, has served as Secretary (2019-2021) for the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and was recently selected as Councilor (2027-2032) where she will be President of AASLD in 2031.

Steve Fecteau, CPXP, is Director of Employee Engagement and Recognition within the Human Resources Division of Talent Development and Learning at Mount Sinai Health System. Over a 25-year career at Mount Sinai, he has also served as a senior training specialist and senior instructional designer, creating learning experiences and leading high-impact events for diverse audiences. An experienced facilitator and host, he regularly moderates panels, town halls, ceremonies, and live programs designed to inform, engage, and inspire.

Eric Nestler is the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean and Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Mount Sinai Health System. He received his BA, PhD, and MD degrees, and psychiatry residency training, from Yale University. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, he served on the faculties of Yale University (1987-2000) and UT Southwestern (2000-2008).

Dr. Nestler is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2025) and National Academy of Medicine (1998) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2005). He is a past President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2011) and the Society for Neuroscience (2017).

The goal of Dr. Nestler’s research is to better understand the molecular basis of drug addiction and depression. His research uses animal models of these disorders to identify the ways in which drugs of abuse or stress change the brain to lead to addiction- or depression-like syndromes, and to use this information to develop improved treatments of these disorders.