Dr. Schnabl is a trained gastroenterologist and physician-scientist. He received his MD degree from the University Freiburg in Germany. After finishing his residency in internal medicine, he completed a gastroenterology fellowship at Columbia University in New York City. He joined the Division of Gastroenterology at UC San Diego in 2008 and he is currently Professor of Medicine. He is staff physician and attending at the VA San Diego Medical Center in La Jolla and the UCSD Medical Center. He is the Director of the NIH-funded San Diego Digestive Diseases Research Center (SDDRC). His research focus is to understand the complex multi-directional interactions that occur between the gut microbiota and the liver. Dr. Schnabl has published extensively in such highly-regarded journals as Nature, Nature Communications, Cell Host & Microbe, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and he has authored multiple reviews and book chapters. Dr. Schnabl is the principal investigator of a VA Merit Award, several NIH, foundation and industry-sponsored grants. He serves as Associate Editor for Journal of Hepatology.