Here on Hep B Connect, we have members with a range of expertise (ranging from scientists, doctors, public health experts, policy makers, and many others!).
This thread is for experts to say “hi”, introduce themselves, and let others know who they can call on to answer specific questions they might have about Hepatitis B.
TT
Hi All,
I’m the founder of Hep B Connect, Thomas Tu. I’m a scientist who has studied Hep B for the last decade or so. I currently lead a research group focusing on how the virus persists in the liver (why does it cause a chronic infection) and how it causes disease (such as liver cancer and liver cirrhosis).
I’ve also recently been really interested in how else the virus infection affects a person in other aspects (discrimination, stigma, etc.)
Happy to answer any questions that fall into any of these categories, don’t be afraid to @ me!
Links about me
Google scholar profile
ResearchGate profile
University of Sydney academic profile
TT
Hi All
I’m Desiree I work in Multicultural Health in Western Sydney. I am passionate about community education and people having spaces to speak to each other.
This is a great initiative.
Hi Desiree,
Thanks for the kind words and welcome to the forum! I am sure your expertise will be really helpful here and I’m sure other forum members would be interested in your input on community outreach.
TT
A post was merged into an existing topic: INTRODUCTION THREAD: People affected by Hep B
Hi all,
This is Shan from Hepatitis NSW. Glad to be here and introduce myself.
I work as a hep B project officer, mandarin speaking, aiming to increase knowledge about hep B in the community. Be happy to contribute my bits to this community 
Welcome to the forum, Shan! It’s great to have you here.
For those who don’t know, Shan was the one doing the translating in our explainer of HBV replication - EXPLAINER: How Hep B infects the liver (English and Mandarin)
Thomas
Hi my name is Joan Block. I’m a co-founder of the Hepatitis B Foundation with my husband Tim Block who is a virologist and wanted to establish a foundation to find a cure after I was diagnosed with hepB in 1989. Tim persuaded our friends Paul and Janine Witte to help us start the foundation. And today, the foundation is celebrating its 30th Anniversary!!! The Hepatitis B Foundation mission is to find a cure and improve the lives of those affected by hepatitis B worldwide through research, education and patient advocacy. Our commitment and energy for working towards eliminating hepB has not diminished!!
Professionally, I’m a registered nurse who has dedicated the past 30 years to becoming educated about hepB and since my retirement as Exec Director of the foundation in 2017, I’m now much more involved in personally sharing with others what I’ve learned and experienced these past 30+ years since being diagnosed with chronic hepB. To date, I’ve lived a long, healthy and happy life with a wonderful husband and 2 adult children who are also happily married. And oh, I just became a grandmother!!
A post was merged into an existing topic: INTRODUCTION THREAD: People affected by Hep B
Hi all,
I’m John Tavis, PhD. I am Professor of Molecular Virology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, USA. I am also Director of the Saint Louis University Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation, an academic drug discovery unit. I’ve studied HBV since 1992, and my lab currently studies the biochemistry of one of the 2 viral enzymes (the ribonuclease H) and is conducting preclinical drug discovery against the ribonuclease H.
Hi all! my name is Georget Reaiche-Miller, PhD. from Adelaide – AUSTRALIA. I am a virologist and also the Manager of The University of Adelaide Biobank. I worked on Hepatitis B for 12 years before I moved from the bench to the Biobank facility where we collect human and animal samples from various studies supporting clinical and basic research. I joined this forum as I would like to help people from non-English speaking background get their points across and questions answered. I am a native Spanish speaker and can fluently translate any scientific correspondence between Spanish and English. Please feel free to tag me on any posts
Welcome @Georget! Georget was doing a post-doc in the lab while I was doing my honours and PhD. She was basically my “big sister”, (rightly) telling me off for doing stupid stuff when I was starting out. 
TT
Thank you! @ThomasTu Don’t worry baby brother you were too smart to do stupid things
Hi Georget! Nice to connect with you again! I’m delighted you are doing well.
John.
Hi John,
Thank you! I am sorry I missed your post. I hope all is going well with you. I am keeping busy here and I am thrilled to be a part of this group
Dear Kinoti,
Thank you for your confidence in me! However, I am a lab scientist, not a physician. I know a lot about how the virus works and how to develop drugs against it, but I don’t know the level of clinical detail needed to answer your question. Furthermore, I’m not licensed to practice medicine, so it is inappropriate for me to comment at a level other than at a mechanistic/general sense—I cannot provide medical advice to individuals.
I strongly urge you to ask this question to your physician. S/He will know the answers (at least as well as medical science can provide—there are unfortunately still many unknowns).
I wish you the very best,
John Tavis
Hello to all HBV community members.
I have been the Chief Scientific Officer at Replicor since 2003. My expertise includes oligonucleotide based medicines (like antisense and RNAi), drug development for HBV / HDV, the clinical evaluation of drugs in patients with viral hepatitis (HCV, HBV and HDV) and molecular virology of many of the viruses which infect humans.
I have been supporting the development of nucleic acid polymers (NAPs) for the treatment of a wide variety of infections but focusing mainly on HBV and HDV.
For additional information about me please see:
Linked in: www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-vaillant-97027b8
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew-Vaillant
Replicor: https://replicor.com/management/
Hi Andrew thanks for posting on this forum. It’s wonderful to have the scientists conducting the hep b cure research sharing their projects so those of living with hep b can better understand what’s coming down the road. More than 30 years ago when I was first diagnosed - and then my husband Timothy Block and friends Paul and Janine Witte started the Hepatitis B Foundation to find a cure and support those who were infected and affected - there was no research. Today, it’s wonderful to see so much research going on and the different approaches being taken to find a cure for this wily virus! Please do reach more about Replicor’s work, which is exciting! And find out what else in in the pipeline by visiting the Hepatitis B Foundation Drug Watch, which is updated regularly. Thanks so much, Joan