Chair (Georgia)

For more than 30 years Lela Bakanidze worked at the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) of Georgia. During this period she was the Head of the Department of Biosafety and Threat Reduction and Deputy Head of the Department of Especially Dangerous Infections (EDI).

While there, she dealt with problems of EDI, food borne infections, resistant microorganisms, and other public health issues. Her Ph.D. thesis dealt with morphology and morphogenesis of toga- and retroviruses in mixed infections. After attending the Bioterrorism Summer School at Johns Hopkins University, together with her Department, Dr. Bakanidze developed the country’s bioterrorism national concept and bioterrorism preparedness plan. For 10 years Dr. Bakanidze acted as Head of the NCDC’s Bioethics Committee. She also delivered lectures at the International Black Sea University and Caucasian School of Business. In 2012, Dr. Bakanidze moved to Georgian Agrarian University where she was the Non-proliferation Programs Manager. She is a Registered Biosafety Professional with the American Biosafety Association and an IFBA Certified Professional in Biorisk Management and Biomedical Waste Management. At present Prof. Bakanidze works in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and is the Key Expert for On-Site Technical Assistance to the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centres of Excellence Regional Secretariat for Central Asia. Lela Bakanidze is the author of two monographs and more than 80 scientific papers.