CLF and CASL Fellowship Awardees

Each year, CLF partners with Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL), to support fellowship training to foster Canada’s next generation of liver specialists. The CASL-CLF Clinical Hepatology Fellowships provides one year of funding to train a young physician to become a clinical hepatologist who plans to practice in Canada.

The CLF issued an astonishing warning to all Canadians about the significance of liver disease. With an increase in many forms of liver disease such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), liver cancer, cirrhosis, and other chronic viral hepatitis and autoimmune liver diseases, statistics show that as many as 1 in 4 Canadians may be affected by liver disease. Effective prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment options exist for many patients, but without financial investments in much-needed patient care and research, liver disease will continue to take lives and exact a high toll on the nation’s healthcare systems.

The Clinical Fellowship Program supports the goal of sustainable delivery of the highest quality care to Canadians living with liver disease and ensuring broad access for patients. Prevention, management and treatment of liver disease can be complex and extra training is critical for these individuals to become the eventual local, regional, national and international leaders in hepatology.

Meet the 2021-2022 Fellows

Dr. Daljeet Chahal
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York

Born and raised in Quesnel, BC, Daljeet Chahal completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Northern BC, followed by his masters and medical degrees through the University of BC. He completed his internal medicine training in Vancouver and is currently in the final year of gastroenterology fellowship in Vancouver. Dr. Chahal will be completing his hepatology training at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Upon his return to Canada, Dr. Chahal hopes to establish a research focus in addition to clinical practice upon his return to Canada.

Dr. Simone Kortbeek
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

Simone completed her undergraduate degree at St. Francis Xavier University before returning to Calgary, where she graduated from the Cumming School of Medicine. She completed her Pediatric residency at the University of Calgary, where she is now in her final year of training as a subspecialty resident in Pediatric Gastroenterology. Dr. Kortbeek is pursuing an advanced clinical fellowship in Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplant at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto. During her residency, Simone served as Chief Resident in both General Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology training programs.

Dr. Kortbeek’s research interests lie in long-term outcomes and health-related quality of life of patients with chronic liver disease and the intersection between these outcomes and quality improvement. She hopes to pair these interests to optimize the care of pediatric patients with liver disease in Canada.

Dr. Derek Little
Western University, London

Currently a Senior Resident in Adult Gastroenterology resident at the University of Toronto, Dr. Little obtained a Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree from Western University followed by medical school and internal medicine training at McMaster University. His clinical interests are in general hepatology, portal hypertension, antithrombotic-associated gastrointestinal bleeding, and resident education. Dr. Little plans to practice in a smaller community where he will focus on clinical hepatology while still practicing general gastroenterology and caring for post-transplant patients.

Dr. Sarah Wang
University of Alberta, Edmonton

Dr. Wang is currently a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Alberta and will begin her Clinical Hepatology Fellowship at the University of Alberta starting July 2021. She previously completed her Internal Medicine training at the University of Saskatchewan and medical school at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Wang’s academic interests include Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and metabolic liver diseases.