History

Dr. Leon Schiff began his career at the University of Cincinnati where he founded the Gastric Laboratory, at the time one of the first Divisions of Gastroenterology in the country. As a distinguished clinician, teacher, and researcher, Dr. Leon Schiff was one of the first physicians to use the diagnostic procedures of gastroscopy and percutaneous liver biopsy – both of which are standard techniques today. Dr. Leon Schiff’s textbook “Schiff’s Diseases of the Liver” is recognized as the world’s foremost textbook on liver diseases and is now in its twelfth edition. Additionally, Dr. Leon Schiff was a founding member and the first president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and received the Association’s Distinguished Service award in 1981. The Leon Schiff State of the Art Lecture in Clinical Hepatology is presented at the annual AASLD meeting each year.

After retiring from the University of Cincinnati (1970), Leon Schiff joined the faculty of the University of Miami School of Medicine where he continued his teaching and clinical practice in an active academic career for twenty-four years until his death in 1994. In 1982 he was instrumental together with his son Eugene in the establishment of the Center for Liver Diseases at the University of Miami. In 2012 the Center was renamed Schiff Center for Liver Diseases (SCFLD) in honor of Dr. Leon Schiff. His career was decorated with countless awards and his leadership was respected throughout all fields of medicine. Dr. Leon Schiff was commended by his colleagues, loved by his patients, and revered by his students and left an impressive legacy which is continued by his son, Dr. Eugene Schiff who has made an equally impressive impact on medicine.

Eugene R. Schiff, MD, MACP, FRCP, MACG, AGAF, FAASLD, Leonard Miller Professor of Medicine, Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid Chair, Director, Schiff Center for Liver Diseases and Director, Hepatology Research Laboratory at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida.

Dr. Schiff earned his BA at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and his MD at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. After graduating, he completed his internship at Cincinnati General Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his residencies in internal medicine at Cincinnati General Hospital and Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas. His fellowship in Gastroenterology was conducted at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Dr. Schiff is the co-editor of the 12th Edition of Schiff’s Diseases of the Liver and has authored and co-authored more than 450 articles, books, and book chapters concerning liver diseases and related topics. His articles have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, Liver Transplantation, New England Journal of Medicine, and Annals of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. He is a past President of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and past Chairman of the Biliary Section of the American Gastroenterological Association. Dr. Schiff is a Master of the American College of Gastroenterology, a Master of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, a Fellow of the American Gastroenterology Association, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. He was the Governor of the American College of Physicians for the State of Florida for four years. He was a member of the Gastroenterology Subspecialty Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine and former Chair of the FDA Advisory Committee on gastrointestinal drugs.

Dr. Schiff is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Florida Laureate Award presented by the American College of Physicians, the Distinguished Service Award of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the Society of the Professors of Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award, he was honored as the first recipient of the Emmet B Keeffe Mentorship Award, and was recently honored with the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

After joining the University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Eugene Schiff established the country’s first Hepatology Section at the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center where he served as Chief from 1970 until 1997, he subsequently established the country’s first Division of Hepatology where he also served as Chief from 1970 until 2007. He followed in his father’s footsteps becoming the AASLD’s 51st president and editing later editions of the “Schiff’s Diseases of the Liver.” Dr. Eugene Schiff has become a world-renowned lecturer and clinician and has established quite the international reputation. Additionally, he has expanded the Center for Liver Disease's clinical trials research as well as their basic science/laboratory research. In 2012 Dr. Eugene Schiff named the Schiff Center for Liver Diseases in honor of his father and continues the groundbreaking work that his father began.