NYC Hep B Coalition Meeting Highlights | 09-23-2026

NYC Hep B Coalition Meeting Highlights | 09-23-2026

September 23, 2026 (2 – 4 PM)

Attendance: See below

Presentations

Bepirovirsen for Chronic Hepatitis B: A Summary of the B-Well Studies
James Esteban, MD, Senior Medical Director, GSK US Medical Affairs Hepatology – jp.g.esteban@gsk.com

• A functional cure means that the virus DNA is undetectable, Hep B Surface Antigen (HbsAG) is undetectable and remain undetectable for 24 hours or more after stopping all treatment. Functional cure does not completely remove traces of Hep B in the Liver.
• Benefits to Functional Cure:
  • Lowers risk complication
  • Lessens stigma
  • Avoids long-term treatment, monitoring and testing
  • Supports recovery of immune system
• Bepirovirsen:
  • Participants take 2 injection of Bepirovirsen every week, in addition to nucleotides analogue medications throughout the study.
  • The study had 1224 participants on Bepirovirsen and 614 on placebo.
  • Result: 19% (1 in 5) who took Bepirovirsen achieved functional cure.

Updates in Hepatitis B Treatment and Cure 2026
Chari Cohen, DrPH, MPH, President, Hepatitis B Foundation – chari.cohen@hepb.org

• View presentation here
• What do we mean by Hep B cure? View video here
• There is a robust Hep B & D treatment pipeline and much reason to hope for strong/better, and even curative treatments coming in the future. You can find the comprehensive list at Hepatitis B Foundation Drug Watch, which is updated regularly.
• Bulevertide (Hepcludex) was granted FDA Approval for hepatitis delta (HDV)

Program Spotlight – Korean Community Services (KCS) 
Eunice Han, Program Coordinator, Korean Community Services – eunice@kcsny.org

• View presentation here
• Educate communities on misconceptions and misinformation with the end goal to encourage individuals to know their status and go through the linkage to care process with patients.
• KCS hosted 16 screening events and screened 254 people, of which 23 were newly identified with Hep B and 67 people were susceptible to Hep B.
• Future: KCS is expanding screening events from Queens to Brooklyn. If you’d like to collaborate with KCS email Eunice Han at eunice@kcsny.org

Hep Free NYC Committee Updates

Advocacy Committee
Julie Yoshimachi, DNP, FNP-BC, Director of Hepatitis B Program, Charles B. Wang Community Health Center – jyoshimachi@cbwchc.org

• View presentation here
• View the NYC Council’s Viral Hepatitis Prevention Initiative FY 27 Ask
• For details on advocacy activities, view the advocacy membership description.

Communications Committee
Joy Cambe, MPH, Program Coordinator, Empire Liver Foundation – joycambe@empireliverfoundation.org

• For details on communication activities, view the communication membership description.

Attendance:

1. Abigail Hunter, abbynhunter@gmail.com
2. Allison Lemkin, alemkin@health.nyc.gov
3. Alma Chaves, achaves@health.nyc.gov
4. Ang Li, ali04@rockefeller.edu
5. Assita Belemkoabga, assitab@africanservices.org
6. Autum Xu, autum@unc.edu
7. Camila Yepes, camila.yepes@nyulangone.org
8. Carmen Rodriguez, crodriguez@salud.pr.gov
9. Cassandra Smith, cassandra.stroth@chqgov.com
10. Catherine Chan, catherine.w.chan@gsk.com
11. Chari Cohen, chari.cohen@hepb.org
12. Chris Campbell, ccampbell@vir.bio
13. Christin Aucapina, aucapinc@nychhc.org
14. Danielle Joya, danielle.joya@austintexas.gov
15. Diana Diaz Munoz, ddiazmunoz@health.nyc.gov
16. Eman Bassily, ebassily@health.nyc.gov
17. Erica Finfer, efinfer@health.nyc.gov
18. Eunice Han, eunice@kcsny.org
19. Farma Pene, fpene@health.nyc.gov
20. Fatou Doumouya, fdoumouya@health.nyc.gov
21. Frank Hood, frank.hood@hepb.org
22. Ibrahim Usman Yerima, jenesodevelopmentinitiative@gmail.com
23. Jielei Wong, jielei.wong@nyulangone.org
24. John Schoepp, jsc714@verizon.net
25. Joy Cambe, joycambe@empireliverfoundation.org
26. Joy Zhu, jizhu@cbwchc.org
27. JP Esteban, jp.g.esteban@gsk.com
28. Jules Levin, jules@natap.org
29. Julie Yoshimachi, jyoshimachi@cbwchc.org
30. Justin Chen, jchen@cbwchc.org
31. Laura Dee, ldee@crusaderhealth.org
32. Lauren Ostrenga, lauren.ostrenga@dhs.wisconsin.gov
33. Li Li, lli6@health.nyc.gov
34. Liz Tang, ltang@health.nyc.gov
35. Marc Schlosser, mschlossermd@gmail.com
36. Mary Bartlett, mary.e.bartlett@gsk.com
37. Mary Chiang, mchiang@cbwchc.org
38. Meg Chappell, megchappell@empireliverfoundation.org
39. Melissa Shah, melissa.a.shahrobotham@gsk.com
40. Michael Sanfilippo, michael.s.sanfilippo@gsk.com
41. Michelle Edden, medden@vir.bio
42. Michelle Liu, michelle.liu@hepb.org
43. Myrna Lee, mlee@health.nyc.gov
44. Rahel Yosief, ryosief@health.nyc.gov
45. Ramón Estebam Pimentel Dumont, ramp0427@yahoo.com
46. Rebecca Bergman, rebecca.bergman@tn.gov
47. Reed Vreeland, rvreeland@health.nyc.gov
48. Roochele Myers-Stokes, rmyersstokes@health.nyc.gov
49. Umaima Khatun, ukhatun@health.nyc.gov
50. Versalle Shelton, vshelton@health.nyc.gov
51. Victoria Foster, victoria.foster@nyulangone.org

Last Updated on October 21, 2026 by HepFree NYC