John M. Vierling, MD, ’74M (RES)

John M. Vierling, MD, is professor of medicine, professor of surgery, chief of hepatology, and director of Baylor Liver Health at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He also serves as director of advanced liver therapies and formerly served as program director of the hepatology and liver transplantation fellowship.

Vierling graduated from Stanford University with a degree in biology and received his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine. Afterwards, he completed his residency at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He was a clinical associate in the liver unit at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) prior to completing a gastroenterology fellowship at University of California, San Francisco. He was the founding medical director of the liver transplantation programs at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and at Cedars-Sinai/UCLA.

Vierling’s clinical interests include autoimmune and alloimmune liver diseases, liver transplantation, acute liver failure, viral hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Wilson disease, and drug-induced liver injury (DILI). He has authored nearly 300 manuscripts and chapters and is co-editor of Liver Immunology: Principles and Practice, now in its third edition.

Throughout the years, Vierling has been honored with numerous awards including being named a “Best Doctor in America” for the past 24 years, a top 1% physician rating by U.S. News and World Report, a “Who’s Who” in America, in the World, in Science and Engineering, in Healthcare, the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2021 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ Liver Tissue and Cell Distribution System Coordinating Committee and on the DILI Network’s Data Safety Management Board.