Lim receives 2015 Harry M. Vars award for liver disease study

The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, or ASPEN, named David Lim, MD, CM, of the University of Alberta, the recipient of the 2015 Harry M. Vars Award for his research on parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease in infants, according to a press release.

“Dr. Lim’s research greatly advances the science and practice of clinical nutrition and metabolism, and we are pleased to formally recognize his important work,” Debra Ben Avram, CEO of ASPEN, said in the release.

David Lim

Lim and colleagues conducted a study that found exogenous glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) therapy in a preclinical model of neonatal parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease (PNALD) improved bile flow and serum markers of cholestasis and studied the mechanisms underlying the improved clinical phenotype, according to the research. The researchers hypothesized that bile acid metabolic pathways are altered in PNALD and ameliorated with GLP-2 therapy.

The study results provided insight on how bile acid metabolism is altered in PNALD and GLP-2 treatment, according to the release.

Lim’s study was presented at ASPEN’s Clinical Nutrition Week 2015 in February.