Pediatric Liver Center Research and Innovation

We partner with the Stanford School of Medicine to conduct research and provide the very latest pediatric liver treatments available. We welcome you to ask us about clinical trials and cutting-edge research related to your child’s liver disease.

Research and innovation highlights

Our pediatric doctors have an innovative approach to care and lead research that actively advances care for children with liver disease. The following are some examples:

  • Established a national reputation for exceptional research in biliary atresia in partnership with the Biliary Atresia Research and Education (BARE) organization. With them, we lead and participate in the very latest clinical trials for biliary atresia.
  • Conducted groundbreaking care using early imaging findings in biliary atresia and implemented a universal screening tool for biliary atresia for all Stanford Children’s newborns.
  • Transformed patient education through various initiatives, including developing patient- and family-centered videos and infographics to support children with liver disease and to improve access to living donor liver transplant.
  • Earned a national reputation for health equity research led by our doctors via their roles in Stanford University’s Office of Child Health Equity, which is helping children with liver disease have equitable outcomes.
  • Involved in national research groups on primary sclerosing cholangitis and autoimmune hepatitis, with an investigator-initiated clinical trial examining novel liver therapies.
  • Received external grant funding to support the complex needs of children with Alagille syndrome. One of our exceptional doctors leads novel research examining bleeding risk factors for children with Alagille syndrome, to help keep them safe before procedures or surgeries.

Recent research studies

Our liver doctors not only provide exceptional care to patients, but also are active researchers. In recent years, they collectively published nearly two dozen research studies in peer-reviewed academic journals related to their leading-edge research in hepatology and liver transplant. Below are some of their recent research breakthroughs.

Decisions Using Intra-Operative Gross Assessment of Fontan-Associated Liver Disease: Implications for Heart-Only Transplantation. Pediatric transplantation Torpoco Rivera, D. M., Zhang, K. Y., Ebel, N., Bensen, R., Martin, E., Ma, M., Esquivel, C. O., Navaratnam, M., Hollander, S. A., Rosenthal, D. N., Chen, S. 2025; 29 (1): e70036

Event-free survival of maralixibat-treated patients with Alagille syndrome compared to a real-world cohort from GALA. Hepatology Hansen, B.E., Vandriel, S.M., Vig, P., Garner, W., Mogul, D.B., Loomes, K.M., Piccoli, D.A., Rand, E.B., Jankowska, I., Czubkowski, P., Gliwicz-Miedzinska, D., Gonzales, E.M., Jacquemin, E., Bouligand, J., D’Antiga, L., Nicastro, E., Arnell, H., Fischler, B., Sokal, E., Demaret, T., Siew, S., Stormon, M., Karpen, S. J., Romero, R., Ebel, N.H., et al., 2023

Incidence and risk factors for chronic rejection in pediatric liver transplantation. Liver transplantation: official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society Dike, P. N., Schady, D., Himes, R., Goss, J. A., Guffey, D., Cerminara, D., Mysore, K. R. 2024

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles for the treatment of acute rejection in pediatric and adult bowel transplant. American Journal of Transplantation Levitte, S., Zhang, K., Guevara-Tique, A. A., Ganguly, A., Dulken, B. W., Nilkant, R., Rigmaiden, M., Kumari, R., Khlifi, K., Thakor, A. S., Bonham, C. A. 2024; 24 (4): 693-696

Association Between Early Immunosuppression Center Variability and One-Year Outcomes After Pediatric Liver Transplant. Pediatric transplantation Raghu, V. K., Rothenberger, S. D., Squires, J. E., Eisenberg, E., Peters, A. L., Halma, J., Antala, S., Batsis, I. D., Zhang, K. Y., Feldman, A. G., Leung, D. H., Lobritto, S. J., Bucuvalas, J., Horslen, S. P., Mazariegos, G. V., Perito, E. R. 2025; 29 (1): e70018

Percutaneous-Transhepatic-Endoscopic Rendezvous Procedures Can Be Safely and Effectively Performed in Pediatric Patients with Refractory Bile Duct Obstruction. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy  Barakat, M., Josephs, S., Gugig, R. MOSBY-ELSEVIER. 2024: AB1090-AB1091

Precision Delivery of Therapeutics to the Intestine: A Case Series of Superselective Steroid Administration in Pediatric Intestinal Transplant Recipients. Transplantation Levitte, S., Guevara-Tique, A. A., Ganguly, A., Syed, A., Gugig, R., Zhang, K. Y., Bonham, C. A., Thakor, A. S. 2024; 108 (8): e202-e203

A-link: Utilizing a Learning Health Network Model for Improving Outcomes in Autoimmune Hepatitis. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Taylor, A. E., Castro-Rojas, C., Karns, R., Mudaliar, K., Moor, M., Alquraish, M., Kulkarni, S., Gupta, N., Alrabadi, L., Halma, J., Bhatt, H., Saarela, K., Ayers, M., Saeed, S., Squires, J. E., Miethke, A. G. LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS. 2023: S117-S118

Health Care Transition for Adolescents and Young Adults with Pediatric-Onset Liver Disease and Transplantation. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Vittorio, J., Kosmach-Park, B., King, L. Y., Fisher, R., Fredericks, E. M., Ng, V. L., Narang, A., Rasmussen, S., Bucuvalas, J. 2022