2023 Awardee of the ILTS Vanguard Young Investigator Research Grant

Dr. Elizabeth A. Wilson is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center, with a deep commitment to improving outcomes for patients undergoing liver transplantation. She earned her medical degree from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and went on to complete extensive training in pediatrics, pediatric critical care, anesthesiology, and liver transplant anesthesiology at some of the nation’s leading institutions, including Duke, Johns Hopkins, and UCSF. With a unique combination of clinical expertise and academic dedication, Dr. Wilson strives to advance the field of liver transplant through both exceptional patient care and innovative research.

Dr. Wilson received the ILTS Vanguard Young Investigator Research Grant in 2023, which allowed her to perform a pilot study of 43 liver transplant patients. She discovered that giving too much oxygen during the critical moment of organ connection (reperfusion) was linked to a higher risk of early allograft dysfunction (EAD), a serious condition where the transplanted liver doesn’t function properly soon after surgery. She also identified specific immune markers in the blood that may help predict which patients are most at risk. These insights could help doctors tailor care during surgery to reduce complications and improve recovery. Building on this work, Dr. Wilson is now exploring how the immune system’s balance between protective and harmful signals affects liver transplant outcomes—laying the groundwork for more personalized, safer transplant care.