These are the top 15 MASH liver specialists in the United States

Identifying the top 15 MASH liver specialists in the United States requires understanding a disease that affects between 9 and 15 million U.S. adults and whose prevalence is projected to increase by 63% by 2030. 1 MASH, formerly called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), is the progressive inflammatory form of metabolic liver disease that can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. 2 The specialists profiled below are recognized through a combination of academic appointments, peer-reviewed publication records, clinical trial leadership, and institutional affiliations at the United States' highest-ranked hepatology programs.

What Qualifies a MASH Liver Specialist

In the United States, there is no single standardized credential called a 'MASH specialist.' The most direct qualification pathway involves board certification in internal medicine, followed by gastroenterology fellowship training, and in many cases an additional transplant hepatology certification issued through the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). 3 Physicians may also qualify through academic liver research appointments or dedicated clinical roles at UNOS-designated transplant centers, where MASH cirrhosis now accounts for 19.6% of adult liver transplants. 4

Leading specialists are frequently fellows of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), which maintains clinical practice guidelines for MASH diagnosis and management. Many hold dual roles as treating physicians and principal investigators in Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trials. The MASH drug pipeline as of 2026 includes two FDA-approved therapies and 16 recruiting Phase 3 trials, making active trial participation a defining marker of top-tier expertise. 5

Institutions Anchoring MASH Expertise

The highest-ranked hepatology programs in the United States are concentrated at a small number of academic medical centers. Mayo Clinic Rochester received a score of 100 out of 100 in U.S. News and World Report's 2025-26 Gastroenterology and GI Surgery rankings, followed by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at 92.5, Cleveland Clinic at 90.4, NYU Langone Hospitals at 90.1, and Mount Sinai Hospital at 89.5. 6 Johns Hopkins Hospital, Houston Methodist Hospital, UCLA Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital round out the top ten, all scoring above 86. 6

Newsweek's 2026 America's Best Hospitals for Specialized Care rankings for gastrointestinal care placed Mayo Clinic Rochester first, Massachusetts General Hospital second, Johns Hopkins third, Cleveland Clinic fourth, and Mayo Clinic Phoenix fifth. 7 MASH specialists at these institutions benefit from high-volume clinical exposure, access to advanced diagnostics including MRI-based elastography and FibroScan, and multidisciplinary teams that address metabolic comorbidities alongside liver disease.

Profiled Specialists and Their Contributions

Naim Alkhouri, MD, FAASLD, DABOM, serves as chief medical officer and chief of transplant hepatology at Arizona Liver Health, where he directs the Steatotic Liver program. He contributed to the Phase 3 trial of resmetirom, the first drug the FDA approved for noncirrhotic MASH with moderate to advanced fibrosis, as well as earlier Phase 2 work on the same compound. 8 He also co-authored a 2026 Journal of Hepatology study developing and validating a noninvasive model to predict MASH-related cirrhosis, known as the cirrhosis-7 score. 9

Richard Manch, MD, FAASLD, FACP, FACG, is senior hepatologist and co-founder of Arizona Liver Health, director of hepatology at the Institute for Liver Health, and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He has spent more than 30 years in practice and 18 years developing liver transplant programs across Arizona. Phoenix Magazine recognized him as a 2026 Top Doctor in hepatology, the first year hepatology appeared as a distinct specialty in the publication's rankings. 10 Khan Rashid, MD, is a board-certified gastroenterologist and transplant hepatologist at Houston Methodist, one of the nation's top-ranked GI hospitals, with prior experience at Liver Specialists of Texas. 11

Research Output and Trial Leadership as Defining Criteria

Active publication and clinical trial involvement distinguish the top tier of MASH specialists. A bibliometric analysis of MASLD and MASH research covering 1980 to 2024 found 36,268 peer-reviewed records with rapid growth since the early 2000s, with the United States accounting for 27.3% of all publications, the highest of any country. 12 The University of California System and Harvard University are the leading institutional contributors to this global body of literature. Specialists at these institutions have published extensively on noninvasive fibrosis biomarkers, the Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, and the use of artificial intelligence phenotyping to identify rapid progressors. 13

A 2026 AI phenotyping study drawing on real-world data from more than 14,000 MASH patients found that cardiovascular and kidney disease diagnoses were the features most consistently linked to rapid fibrosis progression and the highest healthcare costs. 14 Specialists who integrate these findings into clinical pathways, pairing liver-targeted therapies with metabolic risk management, represent the current gold standard of care. Naim Alkhouri has publicly argued that targeting liver pathology alone is insufficient; the greatest patient improvements occur when interventions address liver health, cardiovascular risk, and diabetes control simultaneously, paired with lifestyle modification. 8

The Broader Landscape: Key Specialties and Sub-Roles

MASH hepatology encompasses several overlapping sub-roles. Transplant hepatologists manage patients on the liver transplant waiting list through MELD score optimization, decompensation management, and post-transplant immunosuppression at UNOS-designated centers. Research published in HepatoBiliary Surgery and Nutrition using the UNOS database demonstrated that living donor liver transplant allows MASH patients access to transplantation at an earlier, less decompensated disease stage and is associated with improved recipient survival compared to deceased donor transplant. 15 MASH is the second most common indication for liver transplant in the United States, and it is expected to become the leading indication. 1

Specialists such as Pooja Singhal, MD, FACG, AGAF, DABOM, who founded the Oklahoma Gastro Health and Wellness Center, combine board certification in gastroenterology, hepatology, and obesity medicine, reflecting an emerging model that addresses the metabolic drivers of MASH alongside liver disease itself. 16 Masato Fujiki, MD, director of intestinal transplantation at Cleveland Clinic since 2009, holds a publication record of 240 works with 2,704 citations and an h-index of 29, underscoring the depth of hepatological expertise housed at major transplant centers. 17 The Doctor Directory, which lists 497 peer-verified gastroenterology specialists across 26 states with an average of 16 years of experience and 78 publications per physician, documents the breadth of the national hepatology workforce engaged in fatty liver care. 18

Treatment Advances Shaping Specialist Practice in 2026

The MASH treatment landscape shifted fundamentally in March 2024, when the FDA granted accelerated approval to resmetirom (Rezdiffra) for noncirrhotic MASH with moderate to advanced fibrosis, the first-ever approved treatment for the condition. Fourteen months later, in August 2025, semaglutide 2.4 mg (Wegovy) received a second approval for the same indication based on the ESSENCE Phase 3 trial. 5 Both approvals are accelerated, with confirmatory trials still ongoing. Beyond these two agents, 16 Phase 3 trials were actively recruiting as of mid-2026, targeting mechanisms including FGF21 analogs and GLP-1-based combination therapies, with nearly 8 billion dollars in merger and acquisition activity placing industry bets on the next approval. 5

Employed hepatologists at health system liver disease centers earn between 340,000 and 540,000 dollars annually, while transplant hepatologists at academic or community transplant centers earn between 320,000 and 480,000 dollars, reflecting the high complexity and demand for MASH management expertise. 19 Patients with moderate to advanced MASH are advised to seek evaluation by a fellowship-trained hepatologist, ideally at an institution with active clinical trial enrollment, noninvasive fibrosis assessment capabilities, and a multidisciplinary metabolic health team. Risk factors including obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and metabolic syndrome significantly increase MASH risk and should be addressed alongside liver-specific treatment. 2

How to Evaluate and Locate MASH Specialists

Patients and referring physicians evaluating MASH specialists should look for board certification verifiable through the ABIM physician certification directory, AASLD fellowship status, institutional affiliation at a recognized transplant or academic hepatology center, and active participation in peer-reviewed research or clinical trials. The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) and the AASLD both maintain clinician-facing resources and can support verification of specialty qualifications. 3 Patient-facing directories at institutions such as Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Stanford Medicine, and UCSF Health list hepatologists by subspecialty focus, including fatty liver disease and metabolic liver conditions.

It is important to note that no single authoritative national ranking of the top 15 MASH-specific liver specialists exists as a standardized, annually updated publication. Evaluations draw on a combination of peer-reviewed publication volume, clinical trial roles, institutional rankings, board credentials, and professional recognition. Patients with suspected MASH or confirmed liver fibrosis should consult with their primary care provider before seeking hepatology referral, and should be aware that eligibility for specialized care or clinical trial enrollment depends on disease stage, comorbidities, and geographic access. Transplant candidacy, in particular, involves rigorous multidisciplinary evaluation and is not determined solely by a physician recommendation. 4

Sources

1. American Liver Foundation, Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH) Overview - liverfoundation.org
2. Healthgrades, Treating Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis - resources.healthgrades.com
3. American Board of Internal Medicine, Physician Certification Verification - abim.org
4. HepatoBiliary Surgery and Nutrition, Postoperative Outcomes in Living Donor Liver Transplant vs. Deceased Donor Liver Transplant in MASH (UNOS Database Analysis) - hbsn.amegroups.org
5. DataLookout, The MASH Pipeline in 2026: Two Approvals, $8 Billion in M&A, 16 Phase 3 Trials - datalookout.com
6. Becker's ASC, The Top 50 GI Hospitals for 2025: US News - beckersasc.com
7. Newsweek, America's Best Hospitals for Specialized Care 2026, Gastrointestinal Care - rankings.newsweek.com
8. AJMC, Increased Awareness, Novel Interventions Spell New Era for MASLD/MASH: Naim Alkhouri, MD - ajmc.com
9. Journal of Hepatology, TOP-064 Development and Validation of a Highly Accurate Noninvasive-Based Model to Predict Cirrhosis Due to MASH (Cirrhosis-7 Score) - doi.org/10.1016/s0168-8278(26)01597-7
10. Phoenix Magazine, 2026 Top Doctor Richard Manch, M.D. Hepatology - phoenixmag.com
11. LinkedIn, Khan Rashid, Attending Physician at Houston Methodist - linkedin.com
12. Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Systematic Mapping of Worldwide Research on MASLD and MASH - link.springer.com
13. MedlinePlus, Steatotic Liver Disease / Fatty Liver Disease - medlineplus.gov
14. AJMC, AI Phenotyping Links Cardiovascular, Kidney Disease to Rapid MASH Progression, Higher Costs - ajmc.com
15. HepatoBiliary Surgery and Nutrition, UNOS Database Analysis of LDLT vs. DDLT in MASH Patients - hbsn.amegroups.org
16. Gastro Girl / LinkedIn, Pooja Singhal MD FACG AGAF DABOM, Oklahoma Gastro Health and Wellness Center - linkedin.com
17. LinkedIn, Masato Fujiki, Director of Intestinal Transplantation, Cleveland Clinic - linkedin.com
18. The Doctor Directory, Best Gastroenterology Specialists - thedoctordirectory.com
19. Ava Health, Hepatologist Salary Guide 2026 - providers.avahealth.co