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Herbert Lloyd Bonkovsky, MD

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About

Practicing Specialties

Languages

  • English

Biography

I am a tenured Professor of Medicine and Molecular Medicine & Translational Research and Director of Hepatology/Liver Service Line and The Liver and Metabolic Disorders Laboratory at Wake Forest School of Medicine. I also have academic appointments as visiting professor at Winston-Salem State University, Professor of Medicine at The University of CT Health Center, and Professor of Biology and Medicine at the University of North Carolina. I am known nationally and internationally as a clinical hepatologist, teacher, mentor, and clinical investigator. I am a valedictory graduate of Earlham College and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. My post-graduate training was at Duke University, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, The U.S. National Institutes of Health, Dartmouth Medical School, and Yale University.  

I joined the Department of Medicine, Section on Gastroenterology & Hepatology, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in January, 2015. I have continued to maintain an active clinical practice, focused on liver disorders and metabolic disorders, especially disorders of iron, porphyrin, and heme metabolism. My research is in porphyrin and heme metabolism, effects of heme and iron on gene expression and intermediary metabolism, and drug- and herbal supplement-induced liver injury.  
  
Among my seminal contributions to the study of disorders of porphyrin and heme metabolism were the first preparation and therapeutic use of heme (in the form of the hydroxide, hematin) for therapy of acute porphyrias and demonstration of defective activity of ferrochelatase as the underlying cause of erythropoietic protoporphyria. Hemin for human use was the first Orphan Drug ever developed, and its use for therapy of acute porphyric syndromes has stood the test of time. Still today, it is the treatment of choice for treatment of attacks of acute porphyria.  

Conditions and Treatments

Ratings and Reviews

Locations

Credentials

Board Certifications

American Board of Internal Medicine, GastroenterologyAmerican Board of Internal Medicine

Residencies

Dartmouth at Hitchcock Med Center, Internal Medicine, 1973Clinical Associate, Clinical Transp Research, 1971Cleveland Metropolitan Genl Hospital, Internal Medicine, 1969Duke University Medical Center, Internal Medicine, 1968

Fellowships

Yale University, GI and Liver, 1974

Positions

Gastroenterology, ProfessorWake Forest School of Medicine, Professor, Molecular MedicineDirector for Liver Services, Gastroenterology

Research Interests

AceruloplasminemiaAuto-Immune HepatitisCirrhosisDigestive System DiseasesDrug-Induced Liver InjuryHemochromatosisHepatitis C, ChronicIronLiverPorphyrias and Related Disorders of Heme Metabolism

Publications