Hepatitis B Project Launched in Asian-American Community

Chronic infection with hepatitis B, the leading cause of liver cancer, is a serious health problem in New York City’s large Asian-American community. There the infection rate is as much as tenfold higher than in the general population. Now a new community-based initiative, led by NYU School of Medicine’s Center for the Study of Asian American Health, aims to ameliorate this problem by screening and treating Asian-American New Yorkers.

Supported by a $1.6 million grant from the New York City Council, the NYC Asian American Hepatitis B Project hopes to screen at least 5,000 Asian-Americans in its first year of operation. Over 800,000 Asians and Pacific Islanders live in the city.

The Hepatitis B Project is a collaborative effort between the School of Medicine and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, and other healthcare groups in the Chinese and Korean communities.

A Pediatric Hepatitis Clinic at Bellevue, directed by Henry Pollack, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics and a principal investigator for the project, will provide hepatitis B screening. The other principal investigators from NYU are Alex Sherman, M.D., Hillel Tobias, M.D., and Thomas Tsang, M.D.