Emmet B. Keeffe

Dr. Emmet Keeffe is a third generation San Franciscan who completed undergraduate training at the University of San Francisco and obtained his M.D. degree from Creighton University in 1969. He completed training in internal medicine and gastroenterology at the Oregon Health and Science University in 1974 and research training in hepatology at UCSF. In 1979, he joined the faculty at the Oregon Health and Science University and rose to the rank of Professor of Medicine.

In 1992 he moved to California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco as Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He was also appointed Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF. In 1995 Dr. Keeffe joined the faculty at Stanford University as Professor of Medicine and was appointed Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program and Chief of Hepatology. Dr. Keeffe retired from Stanford in January 2008 and was appointed Professor of Medicine Emeritus. Dr. Keeffe then accepted a position as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Romark Laboratories and opened a San Francisco Bay Area office in Sausalito to assist in the clinical development of nitazoxanide and future generation molecules for the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis.

Dr. Keeffe has been very active in national organizations in his field and has held several leadership positions. He was the 1995-1996 President of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the 2004-2005 President of the American Gastroenterological Association. He was member of the Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation (1991-1995) and the American Digestive Health Foundation (1994-2001. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the AGA Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition, and also a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern California and Nevada Division of the American Liver Foundation. He was previously a member of the Subspecialty Board on Gastroenterology for the American Board of Internal Medicine from 2001 to 2007 and chairman and a member of the Board of Directors in 2007.

Dr. Keeffe has regularly been listed in the The Best Doctors in America as well as Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World. He has been inducted into several honorary societies, including Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Society, American Clinical and Climatological Association, North Pacific Society of Internal Medicine, and Pacific Interurban Clinical Club. He was honored with Mastership in the American College of Physicians and Honorary Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He is also a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the American College of Gastroenterology.

Dr. Keeffe has an extensive writing and editorial background. He was associate editor of Liver Transplantation and Surgery (1995-1999), Digestive Health & Nutrition (1999-2004), and Reviews in Gastroenterological Disorders (2006-2007); section editor of Liver Transplantation for Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation (2000-2007); editor-in-chief of Current Hepatitis B Reports; and is currently editor-in-chief of Digestive Diseases and Sciences, honorary editor-in-chief of the World Journal of Gastroenterology, and executive editor of GastroHep.com. He also serves on the editorial boards of Gastroenterology, Revista de Gastroenterologίa de México, Minerva Gastroenterologica e Dietologica, Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Therapy, The Open Hepatology Journal, and World Journal of Hepatology.

His research interests have bridged general and transplant hepatology, and his current focus of research is antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis C with nitazoxanide and future generation molecules and antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis B. He has published more than 700 articles, book chapters, books and miscellaneous publications.