Alan Hofmann has been a leader in the field of bile acids for much of his six-decade career. In his master’s perspective published in Hepatology in 2009, Alan entitled his journey as: “Bile acids: trying to understand their chemistry and biology with the hope of helping patients.” He clearly achieved those ambitious goals, driving forward our understanding of these complex molecules with a highly energetic, engaging, and encouraging manner that touched nearly every member of the bile acid field.

Alan was born in Baltimore, Maryland in l931 and attended Johns Hopkins University for college and medical school. After completing his residency and a period as a clinical associate at the National Institutes of Health, Alan’s career in bile acids began in earnest while working with Bengt Borgström in Sweden. At the University of Lund, Alan advanced our understanding of how bile acids function in the solubilization and absorption of fat. This was a particularly inspiring period for Alan and his early entry to the published literature included articles on this subject published in Nature and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. After returning from Sweden, Alan worked at the Rockefeller University in New York, the Mayo Clinic, and, since l977, at the University of California San Diego. He subsequently published over 800 articles and provided innumerable lectures around the world. His work focused on bile acid chemistry, the mixed micelle, bile acid metabolism and function, bile acids in the intestine, bile acids in cholestatic liver disease, bile acids in gallstone dissolution, and the therapeutic role of novel bile acid agonists and antagonists. In keeping with the theme of his master’s perspective, Alan made important contributions to the development of new approved therapies for liver disease, including the bile acid sequestrant, colesevelam, the steroidal farnesoid x-receptor agonist, obeticholic acid, for treatment of primary biliary cholangitis, and the ileal bile acid transporter inhibitor, odevixibat, for treatment of primary familial intrahepatic cholestasis, and therapies in development such as the bile salt hydrolase-resistant bile acid analog, cholylsarcosine, as a potential bile acid replacement therapy for short bowel, ¹¹C-cholylsarcosine for use in PET imaging, and the side chain shortened bile acid analog, norucholic acid (norursodeoxycholic acid).

Alan was a highly visible standard bearer for bile acids in the national and international liver community, including as an organizer for the Kroc Foundation Conference on the Physical Chemistry of Bile and the Biennial Congresses on Bile Acid Research that were held in Cortina d’Amprezzo. In the early 1970s, Alan established a Biennial Bile Acid Meeting with Gustav Paumgartner, which is supported by the Falk Foundation and continues to this day. The Falk International Bile Acid Meetings have become the premiere venue for presentation of new discoveries and discussion of bile-acid–related research from labs around the world. Alan's unbroken record of attendance at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) spanned almost 50 years, ending only in 2018 when health concerns began to limit his travel.

Alan was past president of the AASLD in l984. He established a fellowship at his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, and was honored with a named fellowship at the AASLD along with every important award in his field. These include the William Beaumont Prize and Friedenwald Medal, both from the American Gastroenterology Association, Distinguished Achievement Award from the AASLD, Distinguished Alumnus from the Mayo Clinic, and the Herbert Falk Medal, among dozens of other awards.

Almost everyone active in the field of bile acids over the past 60 years was influenced by Alan and in a most positive way. A partial alphabetized list of mentees and collaborators includes E.H. Ahrens, Ulrich Beuers, Ulrich Bolder, Paul Dawson, Rudy Dazinger, Hermon Dowling, Peter Fickert, Scott Grundy, Devorah Gurantz, Lee Hagey, Neville Hoffman, Takashi Iida, Dietrich Keppler, Steven Kozmary, Matt Krasowski, Nicholas LaRusso, Jan Lillienau, Keith Lindor, Erwin Mosbach, Tim Northfield, Eamonn O’Máille, Kel Palmer, Rainer Poley, Aldo Roda, Steve Rossi, Solko Schalm, Juergen Schoelmerich, Leslie Schoenfield, Claudio Schteingart, Joseph Steinbach, Johnson Thistle, Huong-Thu Ton-Nu, Nhan Trang, Michael Trauner, Gerard van Berge Henegouwen, and Yong Bum Yoon. He was insightful, encouraging, and contributed as much as any one individual to inspire new generations of bile acid researchers. His tremendous personal engagement was vital to the strength of the bile acid field, and Alan played an important role in fostering a highly collaborative and supportive community of scientists and clinicians.

Alan is survived by his wife, Heli, two children, Anthea Phillips and Cecelia McKenzie, two stepdaughters, Caroline and Isabel, and five grandchildren. His kindness, curiosity, and intellect will be dearly missed by all who knew him.

艾伦·霍夫曼 (Alan Hofmann) 在其 6 年职业生涯的大部分时间里一直是胆汁酸领域的领导者。在2009 年发表在 H epatology 上的硕士观点中，Alan 将他的旅程命名为：“胆汁酸：试图了解它们的化学和生物学，希望能帮助患者。” 他显然实现了这些雄心勃勃的目标，以一种充满活力、引人入胜且令人鼓舞的方式推动了我们对这些复杂分子的理解，这种方式几乎触及了胆汁酸领域的每个成员。

艾伦于 1931 年出生于马里兰州巴尔的摩，曾就读于约翰霍普金斯大学和医学院。在完成住院医师培训并在美国国立卫生研究院担任临床助理一段时间后，艾伦在瑞典的 Bengt Borgström 工作期间开始了他在胆汁酸方面的职业生涯。在隆德大学，艾伦促进了我们对胆汁酸在脂肪溶解和吸收中的作用的理解。这对艾伦来说是一个特别鼓舞人心的时期，他早期发表的文献包括发表在《自然》和《临床调查杂志》上的关于该主题的文章. 从瑞典回来后，艾伦在纽约洛克菲勒大学、梅奥诊所工作，并自 1977 年起在加州大学圣地亚哥分校工作。随后，他发表了 800 多篇文章，并在世界各地进行了无数次讲座。他的工作重点是胆汁酸化学、混合胶束、胆汁酸代谢和功能、肠道中的胆汁酸、胆汁淤积性肝病中的胆汁酸、胆结石溶解中的胆汁酸以及新型胆汁酸激动剂和拮抗剂的治疗作用。根据他硕士观点的主题，Alan 为开发新的肝病治疗方法做出了重要贡献，包括胆汁酸螯合剂考来维仑、甾体法尼醇 x 受体激动剂奥贝胆酸，用于治疗原发性胆汁性胆管炎,¹¹ C-cholylsarcosine 用于 PET 成像，以及侧链缩短的胆汁酸类似物，降毛胆酸（norursodeoxycholic acid）。

Alan 是国内和国际肝脏社区中非常引人注目的胆汁酸标准承载者，包括作为 Kroc 基金会胆汁物理化学会议和在 Cortina d'Amprezzo 举行的胆汁酸研究双年大会的组织者。1970 年代初期，Alan 与 Gustav Paumgartner 建立了两年一次的胆汁酸会议，该会议得到了 Falk 基金会的支持并一直持续到今天。Falk 国际胆汁酸会议已成为展示新发现和讨论来自世界各地实验室的胆汁酸相关研究的首要场所。艾伦参加美国肝病研究协会 (AASLD) 年会的记录持续了近 50 年，直到 2018 年健康问题开始限制他的旅行才结束。

艾伦于 1984 年担任 AASLD 的前任主席。他在母校约翰霍普金斯大学建立了奖学金，并在 AASLD 获得了命名奖学金以及他所在领域的每一个重要奖项。其中包括来自美国胃肠病学协会的威廉博蒙特奖和弗里登瓦尔德奖章、AASLD 杰出成就奖、梅奥诊所杰出校友奖和赫伯特福克奖章，以及其他数十个奖项。

在过去的 60 年里，几乎所有活跃在胆汁酸领域的人都受到了 Alan 的影响，而且是最积极的。按字母顺序排列的学员和合作者名单包括 EH Ahrens、Ulrich Beuers、Ulrich Bolder、Paul Dawson、Rudy Dazinger、Hermon Dowler、Peter Fickert、Scott Grundy、Devorah Gurantz、Lee Hagey、Neville Hoffman、Takashi Iida、Dietrich Keppler、Steven Kozmary 、马特·克拉索夫斯基、尼古拉斯·拉鲁索、扬·利里诺、基思·林多、埃尔文·莫斯巴赫、蒂姆·诺斯菲尔德、埃蒙·奥梅耶、凯尔·帕尔默、雷纳·波利、奥尔多·罗达、史蒂夫·罗西、索尔科·沙姆、于尔根·舍尔默里奇、莱斯利·舍恩菲尔德、克劳迪奥·施泰因巴赫、约瑟夫·施泰因巴赫、 、约翰逊蓟、Huong-Thu Ton-Nu、Nhan Trang、Michael Trauner、Gerard van Berge Henegouwen 和 Yong Bum Yoon。他富有洞察力，鼓舞人心，并为激励新一代胆汁酸研究人员做出了与任何人一样多的贡献。他巨大的个人参与对胆汁酸领域的力量至关重要，艾伦在培养高度协作和支持的科学家和临床医生社区方面发挥了重要作用。

艾伦身后留下了他的妻子 Heli、两个孩子 Anthea Phillips 和 Cecelia McKenzie、两个继女 Caroline 和 Isabel，以及五个孙子。所有认识他的人都会深深怀念他的善良、好奇心和智慧。