Introduction to the Virtual Issue "Translational Studies in AUD: Liver Disease".

Recent high visibility publications raised the overall awareness of the importance of alcohol use disorders (AUD) and alcohol-associated liver disease as major health problems in the United States and worldwide. While this is not earth-shattering news to the alcohol-research community, it markedly enhances the level of public awareness of these important issues. An article in the Lancet involving a very large number of centers and authors generated estimates of alcohol use and alcohol-contributable deaths and disability in life years for 195 locations between 1990-2016 (Collaborators, 2018). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.