Martinez Receives Global Honor for Hepatitis Work

By Dirk Hoffman

Anthony D. Martinez, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and director of the clinic, has been named a 2024 Elimination Champion by the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination.

Martinez was one of eight people recognized — and the only U.S. representative. Other Elimination Champion awardees included two from Uruguay, and one each from Nigeria, Australia and Thailand. Two other individuals were given special recognition as “Legacy Award” winners.

The award “recognizes outstanding individuals in acknowledgment of their contributions to health equity in the fight for global hepatitis elimination,” according to the website of the coalition, which is part of The Task Force for Global Health.

The honor is a continuation of the recognition La Bodega has received nationally and globally as a novel co-localized model for managing viral hepatitis and addiction disorders.

“We’re deeply honored to be the only U.S. representative this year. I’m also incredibly proud to represent the Mexican-American and Latino community,” Martinez says. “Most importantly, this award honors the team and all of the patients. None of this works without the people that comprise the Bodega.”

“It’s a testament to the team’s commitment, tireless efforts and dedication to the community,” he adds. “It’s also a great tribute to our patients. These folks have no idea how they have changed the world. They are the foundation for every single thing that we do.”

Martinez, who works in the Division of  Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the Jacobs School and sees patients through UBMD Internal Medicine, notes that in his award acceptance interview with the coalition he mentioned “our work may not fix most of what is broken in the world, but our hope is to make some progress in equity in our society.”

“Our mission at La Bodega is rooted in love, and all that defines love: passion, awe, allegiance, respect, justice and compassion.”

Since the program began in 2013, Martinez and his team have treated more than 5,000 people with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Martinez says one of the best aspects of the Bodega is the thousands of names and messages inscribed on its walls, left behind by those who have been cured of HCV.

“Those names urge us on, a constant reminder of who we are fighting for,” he says. “I think that’s what this award is about: the people who have made us.”

Martinez structured La Bodega as a comprehensive hepatology clinic which has a built-in addiction medicine program because liver disease and addiction disorders are often connected.

The model is a co-localized approach, which utilizes an outreach team of social workers who partner with a number of addiction facilities.

In 2024, the clinic started a new same-day rapid start model for HCV treatment and has treated almost 300 patients, including high-risk pregnant women, Martinez says.

“We are currently one of the only models implementing a rapid approach start in the country (and globally) at this volume,” he says.

The program was also awarded a New York State Department of Health Commissioner’s Special Recognition Award in honor of World AIDS Day for the second time in 2023. It first received the honor in 2018.

Martinez’s team has been involved with the national elimination plan for hepatitis C; Rachael Fleurence, PhD, a senior adviser at the National Institutes of Health and to the White House, visited La Bodega last December.

“She came to see how our program works and how it could be a model for national HCV elimination. We continue to work on this initiative,” Martinez says.

Earlier this year it was also announced that a new point-of-care testing machine was FDA-approved, which will contribute to the rapid diagnosis of HCV and could accelerate elimination efforts, he adds.

“We are in the final stages of acquiring two machines and implementing an outreach program in the addiction, incarceration and post-incarceration settings,” Martinez says.

In the meantime, Martinez will continue to spread the word about novel approaches to treating HCV and addiction disorders far and wide.

Over the past year, the team has presented nationally and internationally at about two dozen conferences, including the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases’ The Liver Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts; the 2023 European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Congress in Vienna, Austria; and the 2024 EASL Congress in Milan, Italy.

In the months ahead, La Bodega will be presenting at grand rounds in Canada; at the California Street Medicine Symposium; the International Conference of Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users in Athens, Greece; and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases conference in San Diego, California.

The 2024 Elimination Champion honor is just the latest evidence of the global impact the La Bodega model continues to make.

“This achievement is a true testament to Dr. Martinez’s hard work, dedication to patient care and commitment to the field,” says Ramon E. Rivera, MD, assistant professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. “He has not only made us proud locally, but has also become a great ambassador for the University at Buffalo on a global scale.”

The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination is a nonprofit founded in 2019. It pursues worldwide elimination of viral hepatitis by strengthening capacity at the local level, bringing together global partners to share knowledge, data, and experiences related to hepatitis prevention, testing, and care and treatment.