Indian American professor of medicine Rohit Loomba to hold new endowed chair at UC San Diego

SAN DIEGO , CA (TIP) : Indian American professor of medicine Rohit Loomba will hold a new endowed chair established in honor of the late biotech leader John C. Martin to further liver disease research at the University of California San Diego. Established with a gift from the John C. Martin Foundation, the chair was created to support innovative research and treatment in liver disease, with a focus on understanding and addressing population-based risk factors, according to a university release.
Endowed chairs are among the highest honors bestowed by UC San Diego, recognizing scholars whose work shapes their fields and transforms communities.
“It is an honor and privilege to support Rohit Loomba, a decades long colleague of John Martin, as the inaugural holder of the John C. Martin Endowed Chair,” said Lillian Lou, president of the John C. Martin Foundation and life partner of Martin.
Martin, who passed away in 2021, served as chairman and CEO at Gilead Sciences, Inc., from 2008 to 2016, and as president and CEO from 1996 to 2008.
He joined Gilead in 1990 as vice president of Research and Development, and during his tenure there, the company revolutionized worldwide therapy for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
“UC San Diego is recognized as the world’s top institution for gastroenterology and hepatology research because of our outstanding faculty dedicated to innovative research and patient care,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “The appointment of Dr. Rohit Loomba to this chair named in honor of John Martin is fitting, as they shared the same goal of improving the quality of life for patients worldwide.”
Loomba, the inaugural holder of the chair that bears Martin’s name, is a professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and a gastroenterologist and hepatologist at UC San Diego Health. U.S. News & World Report ranks UC San Diego No. 1 in the world for gastroenterology and hepatology (liver) research.
In addition to leading the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UC San Diego, Loomba is also the founding director of the UC San Diego metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)Research Center, where a multidisciplinary team is pioneering noninvasive tests to evaluate liver disease and assess treatment response.
These methods are already transforming clinical practice by reducing the need for invasive liver biopsies and offering more precise ways to track disease progression.
“This endowed chair allows us to research and develop new cures and novel treatment options for the management of digestive diseases,” said Loomba. “We work locally to impact globally and strive to be a beacon of excellence in all aspects of our clinical and academic endeavors.”
An internationally recognized leader in liver disease research, Loomba has played a critical role in developing MRI-PDFF as a noninvasive biomarker of treatment response in clinical trials for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
This advanced type of MRI allows doctors to measure fat in the liver without a biopsy, offering a safer and more precise way to track how patients respond to new therapies.
The method, now adopted in more than 100 clinical trials worldwide, has already contributed to the FDA approval of new treatments and continues to guide large scale Phase 3 trials, the final global studies that confirm a therapy’s safety and effectiveness before approval.
Loomba has published more than 600 manuscripts in leading journals and serves as co-editor of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He is also the principal investigator on multiple NIH-funded projects and plays a leadership role in clinical research networks focused on advancing liver disease treatment.