Liver Disease Researcher Hopes Work Will Make a Difference At Home and Abroad

Jose Debes, MD, PhD, MS, second from left, with colleagues in Tanzania. 

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Jose Debes, MD, PhD, MS, took a Zoom call in his office in Minneapolis. The University of Minnesota Medical School professor had just arrived in the United States after experiencing multiple flight delays traveling from South America.

But Debes didn’t appear jet-lagged. And given his busy schedule as a researcher, one could assume he’s become quite familiar with balancing international travel and his duties at the medical school.

Debes, like so many global health researchers, has a lot on his plate: He estimates he’s currently involved in 15 global health projects. That’s in addition to his work as founder of the South American Liver Research Network and director of the African Network for Hepatitis B Awareness and Education.

But Debes knows that’s par for the course as an academic working in global health. And he welcomes the challenge.

“People like me have a problem,” Debes quips. “I get very excited about what I do.”

Debes, who is a principal investigator in CGHSR’s recently launched research collaborative with Chiang Mai University, has been studying liver disease for 14 years. He entered the field after doing oncology research following his medical residency. Liver cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death around the world; the American Cancer Society estimates that more than 800,000 people are diagnosed globally every year.

Debes also received a Global Health Seed Grant from CGHSR in 2017 and an R21 award related to work regarding biomarkers used to detect Hepatocellular carcinoma.

“The Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility does a really good job of funding novel projects,” said Debes. “That amount of money can go a long way when it’s a global health grant. I’ve benefited a lot from that.” 

Much of Debes’ research focuses on identifying biomarkers that predispose individuals to liver cancer. The goal is to learn more about liver cancer in order to catch it early on and prevent deaths.

The global scope of his research allows his teams to make discoveries that can be applied to a wide variety of populations. Too often, says Debes, researchers focus on just one population, which limits the impact their findings can have.

“What happens a lot, for example, is that you do a study in the U.S. and, say, 80 percent of your participants are white, and then you discover something. And that’s applicable and that’s great. But you don’t know if that discovery will apply to people that are of African descent or Latino descent or Hispanic descent,” he said.

Understanding liver cancer risk in multiple populations isn’t just beneficial globally — it also has impacts in Minnesota. Debes points out that the state’s large immigrant population means research done on other continents can be applied directly to local communities as well.

Collaboration with host communities is integral to ensuring research can produce long-term, sustainable results. And Debes emphasized the importance of developing relationships with his global partners to build trust and, ultimately, create more impactful work.

He’s proud of the research networks he’s been able to develop during his time working in multiple countries and across continents.

“I work with groups in Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, for example. But now these groups are working together — some of the people in Brazil are going to Ecuador to train and then they come back to Brazil. That to me is phenomenal,” said Debes.

“It’s putting people together so we can all share different ideas and make progress.”

One current project Debes is working on uses artificial intelligence to detect liver cancer. He’s working with a team of researchers using a large language model that analyzes soundwaves picked up on an ultrasound to identify the disease. The project is still in its early stages, but he is excited about the prospects.

Debes seems anything but overwhelmed notwithstanding his long list of projects. He’s excited about his work and the potential it has to make a difference.

“I like research because you can make a real impact. If you make a discovery, you can impact the life of someone that you don’t even know,” said Debes.

Learn more about Debes’ work.