Christopher is the founder of Phage International. Christopher has spent most of his career in the high tech industry in various roles, generally as a program manager or technical lead. Mr. Smith has developed the personal / trust relationships from which many of these opportunities have resulted and evolved, he has many associations with scientists in Republic of Georgia. Smith began his career at Wells Fargo Bank, where he was a technology resource planner. He has been involved at many high tech companies that include Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, Verisign, Network Solutions, Commerce One, Bell Laboratories and he has worked as a consultant for IBM in the Silicon Valley.    Christopher earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of South Carolina in 1977.

Kenneth K. Fisher
Cozen O’Connor
New York, New York USA

Former New York City Council Member Kenneth K. Fisher is a partner at the law firm of Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen, where he concentrates his practice on the civic fabric of New York City.

Ken served in the New York City Council 1991-2001, representing the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint, Williamsburg, downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and Boerum Hill. He was described by various newspapers as "one of the most talented members of the City Council, effective, hardworking, an original thinker, and progressive." A survey by the New York Daily News ranked him one of the five most effective members of the City Council. During his tenure, he chaired a Land Use Subcommittee of the Council, overseeing the approval of hundreds of millions of dollars of public works, and the Committee on Youth Services.

Ken's articles on various aspects of public policy have been published in the New York Times, Crain's New York Business, New York Newsday, the New York Daily News, and the New York Law Journal. Ken has taught at Baruch College's School of Public Affairs, New York University, and has lectured at other colleges. He is chair of the Governor's Island Alliance, and a member of the boards of the Historic House Trust and the Transit Museum. Ken is a Fellow of the Institute for Urban Design and a member of the Zoning Advisor Council.

Professor Zemphira Alavidze, PhD
Leading Scientist at Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages, Microbiology and Virology
Ministry of Education and Science
Tbilisi, Georgia

Professor Alavidze is the lead scientist at Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Virology, and Microbiologist. Her primary role has been isolating and characterizing new therapeutic phages (including all components of Pyophage and Intestiphage); phage preparation and stabilization techniques.  Dr. Alavidze is considered to be the world's top research scientist in this field.

Dr. Tengiz Chikvashvili, MD
VP, Director Phage Therapy Center
Tbilisi, Georgia

Dr. Chikvashvili graduated from Kuban Medical University, Kuban Russia in 1974. After receiving his degree he worked for two years as a general surgeon in Anapa, Russia; he spent another three years working as an emergency surgeon in Tskhinvali, Georgia. Dr. Chikvashvili spent the next twenty seven years working as a surgeon at one of Georgia's largest hospitals: the Railway Hospital located in Tbilisi. Tengiz has utilized phage therapy during the majority of his career.

"Dr. Tengiz", as he is known by his foreign patients, has been director of Phage Therapy Center since its opening in 2005.

Dr. Vakhtang Beridze, PhD
Energy Project Coordinator, Millenium Challenge Georgia Fund
Director, Research Center for Medical Polymers and Biomaterials
PolymerPharm Co., Co-Chairman
Tbilisi, Georgia

Vakhtang Beridze, works at the Millennium Challenge Georgia Fund, established by Government of Georgia with Millennium Challenge Corporation, cooperating with different donor organizations such as: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), World Bank, BP, European Commission, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and others.

Dr. Beridze was a consultant of the World Bank financed “Georgia Health and Social Projects Implementation Center” (projects include: i) Health One Project (14 Mln.); ii) Primary Health Care Development Project (24 Mln.); iii) Structural reforms Support Project (20 Mln); iv), Social and Global Fund financed - Prevention of AIDS and Malaria Project (12 Mln.)).

Vakhtang has spent over 15 years in biodegradable polymer research and development. He is the founder and director of the Research Center for Medical Polymers and Biomaterials. The Center has developed original biodegradable polymers and preparations based on them. Dr. Vakhtang Beridze was engaged in the following companies’ startups: Phage Therapy Center Georgia (patient treatment such as infections, wound infections etc.), Phage International Inc. (marketing and distribution of drugs), PolymerPharm (preparation development, production, marketing).

Vakhtang Beridze is a PhD of Chemistry (Institute of Element-organic Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation) and also has a degree in the field of Economy and Business Administration.

Professor H. Leonard Fisher
Assistant Professor, College of Professional Studies, USF (Ret.)
San Francisco, California USA

Len retired as fulltime faculty member in the Information Systems Program, College of Professional Studies, at the University of San Francisco in 2003. where he served as Program Director of both the undergraduate and graduate Programs from 1998 to 2001. His primary teaching and course development focus was in the areas of IT and Social Issues, IT Strategy, Telecommunications, Data Communications, and E-Commerce Network Applications.

Professor Fisher’s teaching career started in 1979 with Golden Gate University where he spent 18 years teaching graduate courses in the Telecommunications Management Program, attaining the rank of Adjunct Professor.

Prior to becoming a fulltime educator, Professor Fisher took early retirement from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) after a 30-year career as a research physicist, information scientist, and manager of information scientists and information systems professionals. High points in his career include the development of fallout deposition and radionuclide transport calculation models, support of large-scale projects in laser physics and laser isotope separation, projects with the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Energy (DOE) to develop more effective online retrieval systems, serving as Chair of the DROLS User Committee for 5 years.

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