Dr. Lai is a general and transplant hepatologist who specializes in caring for patients with chronic viral hepatitis, autoimmune disorders, and cirrhosis, particularly those awaiting liver transplantation.

Her academic mission is to improve the lives of patients with end-stage liver disease through the application of core principles of geriatrics into the care of patients with cirrhosis. Examples of these principles include assessing and reversing physical frailty, reducing polypharmacy, and integrating palliative care into liver transplantation. She is principal investigator of the NIH-funded Functional Assessment in Liver Transplantation (FrAILT) Study, which is actively enrolling patients with end-stage liver disease awaiting liver transplantation for assessments of physical frailty both before and after liver transplantation.

After earning her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and combined MD/MBA degrees from Tufts University, she completed residency at the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and gastroenterology and advanced/transplant hepatology fellowships at UCSF. She is a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American Society of Transplantation, American Gastroenterological Association, American College of Gastroenterology, and International Liver Transplantation Society. She has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Society of Transplantation (FAST). She serves as Associate Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation and for Transplantation, and is a member for the Editorial Boards for Hepatology and for Liver Transplantation. She served as Chair of the American Society of Transplantation Liver and Intestinal Community of Practice from 2016-2018.