Founders

Meet the founders of Texas Liver Foundation.

Sanjiv Harpavat, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine Texas Liver Foundation Board of Directors/Medical Action Committee

Dr. Harpavat is a pediatric gastroenterologist at Texas Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics-Gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine.  His clinical and translational research focuses on the serious liver condition biliary atresia (BA). He leads a NIH-funded multi-hospital screening initiative for BA, as well as clinical trials of novel medications to help improve outcomes in BA after the Kasai operation.  Dr. Harpavat received his MD and PhD from Harvard Medical School. 

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Norman L. Sussman, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer, DURECT Corporation Texas Liver Foundation Vice President/Board of Directors/Medical Action Committee

Dr. Sussman is the Chief Medical Officer of DURECT Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of treatments for acute organ injury and chronic liver diseases.  Prior to his position at DURECT, Dr. Sussman was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and a member of Baylor St. Luke’s Liver Center.  Dr. Sussman received his MBBCh from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a Fellow of the American Association of the Study of Liver Disease.

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J. Steven Bynon, M.D., FACS

UT McGovern School of Medicine, Memorial Hermann TMC Texas Liver Foundation Vice President/Board of Directors/Medical Action Committee

Dr. Bynon leads the Abdominal Transplant program at Memorial Hermann TMC/McGovern School of Medicine, University of Texas Houston and is a professor in the department of surgery at McGovern School of Medicine.  Prior to this, Dr. Bynon initiated the pediatric liver transplant program at the University of Alabama and was Director of their liver and pediatric transplant programs.  Dr. Bynon graduated from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences medical school.

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Thomas A. Kerr, M.D, Ph.D.

Texas Liver Foundation Medical Action Committee

Dr. Kerr is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center specializing in liver disease and liver transplantation. Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty, Dr. Kerr served as an AssistantProfessor of internal medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Kerr earned his medical degree and doctoral research degree at UT Southwestern.

Ranjeeta Bahirwani, M.D.

Liver Consultants of Texas, Baylor University Medical Center Texas Liver Foundation Medical Action Committee

Dr. Bahirwani is a transplant hepatologist at Baylor Scott & White Liver Consultants of Texas and Associate Program Director for the Department of Internal Medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health.  Dr. Bahirwani graduated from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.