Tiffany Mensah, Patient Engagement and Digital Strategy Manager for the State of Steatotic Liver Care in America survey, has published a guest column in Bionews reflecting on what five years of running this survey has taught her about the steatotic liver disease patient experience.
The piece, titled "What Five Years of Listening Taught Me About a Silent' Disease," challenges the common characterization of SLD as a silent, asymptomatic condition. Drawing on data collected across five annual surveys, Mensah describes the persistent gap between how the disease is often described by the medical community and what patients actually report living with, including fatigue, pain, disrupted sleep, and significant emotional burden. The column includes a patient quote from the 2025 survey that speaks to the fear, grief, and personal stakes that accompany a diagnosis, and makes the case for why community-driven research like this survey matters beyond the data it produces.