Rate My Professor Matthew Kitson

Dr Matthew Kitson serves as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Gastroenterology at Monash University and as a Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. He holds a BSc, MBBS with Honours, a PhD awarded by Monash University in 2015, and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP). His doctoral research, supported by an NHMRC Medical/Dental Postgraduate Research Scholarship from 2011 to 2014, focused on the relationship between vitamin D status, chronic hepatitis C infection, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), conducted within the Central Clinical School's Department of Medicine at The Alfred Hospital.

Kitson's academic interests center on hepatology, encompassing chronic viral hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), alcoholic liver disease, cystic fibrosis-associated liver disease, and primary liver cancer. He has made significant contributions to the field through investigations into vitamin D's role in chronic liver disease, non-invasive liver stiffness assessment using transient elastography (FibroScan) and supersonic shear imaging for diagnosing fibrosis and clinically significant portal hypertension, and the efficacy of direct-acting antiviral therapies for hepatitis C in cirrhotic patients. Notable publications include "D-livering the message: the importance of vitamin D status in chronic liver disease" (Kitson and Roberts, 2012; 348 citations), "Systematic review: current concepts and challenges for the direct-acting antiviral era in hepatitis C cirrhosis" (Majumdar, Kitson, and Roberts, 2016; 186 citations), "Vitamin D status does not predict sustained virologic response or fibrosis stage in chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 infection" (Kitson et al., 2013; 105 citations), "Liver stiffness and the prediction of clinically significant portal hypertension and portal hypertensive complications" (Kitson et al., 2015; 75 citations), and "High-dose vitamin D supplementation and liver histology in NASH" (Kitson et al., 2016; 68 citations). With over 1,100 citations across his body of work, Dr Kitson's research has advanced understanding and clinical management of liver diseases, particularly through meta-analyses establishing diagnostic cut-offs for elastography in various etiologies.