Somali Doctor Sits Among Top Doctors in America in 2017

Dr. Mohamed Hassan, Hematologist  

Specialty: Hepatology and transplant hepatology (diseases of the liver and liver transplantation) and gastroenterology (endoscopy and colonoscopy). Associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Has practiced in East Africa, Italy, and the U.S.
Clinic: University of Minnesota Health, HealthPartners Specialty Center, and Minnesota Endoscopy Center
Years Practicing Medicine: 30-plus

Tell us about the cutting-edge work that is being done in your field today. Hepatitis C was described for the first time, at least components of it, in 1989. Now you can treat hepatitis C more than 95 percent of the time. So, within the short period I have been practicing medicine, hepatitis C was identified and now we can treat it easily with safe medications. Hepatitis C is the number-one reason for liver transplants in the United States. It’s not a trivial thing.

Are there fewer liver transplants as a result? It is expected to go down. But you won’t feel the effect immediately. I think we will probably reevaluate the effect in the near future to see that it drops below the other diseases, like nonalcoholic fatty liver or NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis). You can have fat in the liver for two reasons: one is alcohol and the other is non alcohol-related fatty liver, especially in people who have risk factors such as high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Within the coming years, nonalcoholic fatty liver will surpass hepatitis C as the main indication for liver

How successful are liver transplants these days? Liver transplantation is no longer an experimental treatment. It works, and it lasts a long time. People who got one in the 1980s or 1990s are still alive. We used to have problems with viral hepatitis C and B because the virus could return to the transplanted liver. Now we have suppressive medications for hepatitis B and curative medications for hepatitis C that will prevent organ loss due to the recurrence of the disease. So these people live as long as anybody else.

How do you enjoy life in the Twin Cities? I’ve been married for 31 years. We have three children: two boys and a girl. I’m originally from Somalia. I’ve been in a lot of countries but I really like the U.S.—you can go forward more easily than in other countries, especially if you have the right attitude and the right education. I was lucky to have been a doctor when I came here. That made things easier for me. I like Minnesota. The people are very helpful, polite, friendly.

What are you currently listening to? I love Italian songs. When I’m doing procedures, like colonoscopies, they say, “Hassan! Will you put on your music?” I love the blues, from B.B. King to Muddy Waters, and have a lot of Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. But the majority of my music is Italian. I love it. It’s melodic.


Tell us a fun fact about you. I say things and the fellow shave put them on the wall— “Sayings from Dr. Hassan.” Every time I say something that’s peculiar to them, they write it down. They’ve made this list,and it’s hundreds of things.

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