Professor Chris Byrne delivers prestigious HEART UK Myant Lecture

Professor Chris Byrne, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton, delivered this year’s prestigious Myant Lecture at HEART UK’s 39th Annual Medical & Scientific Conference in Nottingham.

His lecture, “ MASLD, a liver disease with implications far beyond the liver ”, highlighted the growing recognition of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) as a condition that affects multiple aspects of health, extending beyond the liver itself.

Discussing the lecture, Professor Byrne said: “It is a great honour for the MASLD team, the Faculty and the NIHR BRC to be awarded this keynote lecture and to be one of only nine UK recipients to receive this award in the last 38 years.”

The Myant Lecture is HEART UK’s highest-profile keynote lecture and is named in honour of Dr Nick Myant, widely regarded as a pioneer of lipid research in the UK. HEART UK is the UK’s only charity dedicated to supporting people affected by high cholesterol and raising awareness of its impact on heart health.

Professor Byrne is an internationally recognised expert in metabolic liver disease, dyslipidaemias and type 2 diabetes. In 2026, Prof Byrne was included in the measuresHE Talent Global top 100 list, for research contribution in Health Sciences, and he has published over 600 peer-reviewed papers cited almost 70,000 times.

A recording of Professor Byrne’s lecture is available to watch online.