Τhe International Liver Study Group “Gnomes” celebrated in Athens their 50th Anniversary Meeting 2-5 May 2018 under the auspices of the Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the European Society of Pathology. The meeting on “Drug-induced Liver Injury” was organised by Dr Dina Tiniakos, Chief Gnome” for 2018 and Assoc. Professor, Aretaieion Hospital, NKUA and was a great success. The “Gnomes” are a renowned international group of 16 expert liver pathologists and clinicians who meet annually to discuss in depth hot topics in hepatopathology. The first slide circulation and meeting of the “Gnomes” resulted in the 1968 classification of chronic hepatitis. Over the years, the “Gnomes” have been instrumental in fostering diagnostic hepatopathology worldwide and in contributing to the development of the specialty of Hepatology.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary, a medical history book entitled «50 years of Liver Pathology: A History of the Gnomes”, co-authored by Dina Tiniakos, Michael Torbenson and Valeer Desmet, was published by the NKUA Press (Figure 1). On May 3rd, 2018 following the end of the scientific sessions, the “Gnomes” and their accompanying persons visited the Historical Central Building of NKUA, one of the oldest neo-classical buildings of Athens (Figure 2). They were welcomed by the Vice Rector of Academic Affairs and International Relationships Prof. Konstantinos Bourazelis who showed them around the Propylaia with the famous frescos of Karl Rahl and Eduard Lebiedski and the Great Hall (Figure 3).
The members of International Liver Study Group “Gnomes” include Professors Alastair D. Burt, Executive Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Australia, Pierre Bedossa, Past President-European Society of Pathology, Hôpital Beaujon, Paris, France, Stefan G. Hübscher, University of Birmingham, UK, Eve Roberts, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, Elizabeth M. Brunt, Saint Louis University Medical School, St. Louis, MO, USA, Luigi Terracciano, University of Basel, Switzerland, Francesco Callea, Catholic University of Rome, Italy, Michael Torbenson, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA, Andrew Clouston, Brisbane, Australia, Ian R. Wanless, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Hans Peter Dienes, Medical University of Vienna, Austria, David E. Kleiner, National Cancer Institutes, Bethesda, MD, USA, Zachary Goodman, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA, USA, Peter Schirmacher, University of Heidelberg, Germany, Annette S. H. Gouw, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands and Assoc. Professor Dina G. Tiniakos, Aretaieio Hospital, NKUoA and Institute of Cellular Medicine, Medical School, Newcastle University, UK. The next meeting of the International Liver Study Group will take place in June 2019 at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
