Dr. Minmin Yen (Mimi) researched the use of phages as an intervention for cholera during her thesis work in the Camilli Lab at Tufts University, resulting in publications in Nature Communications and eLife. As a biological engineering undergraduate at MIT, she trained with Professors David Schauer and Darrell Irvine and researched oral vaccine delivery. Passionate about developing innovative solutions for infectious diseases, Mimi was awarded the Howard Hughes Medical Institute MERGE-ID fellowship, which focused on translating bench science to clinical applications, for her graduate education. During her thesis research, Mimi traveled to Haiti to study the cholera epidemic, where she witnessed the need for innovative healthcare solutions. She also served as the U.S. representative in the Young Leaders Circle for three years as a part of American Society of Microbiology’s initiative to address the needs of international early-stage scientists. Mimi recently received her Master’s in Public Health at Boston University, with a focus in global health and program management.

Dr. Andrew Camilli (Andy) is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology & Microbiology at Tufts University. He trained with two leaders in the field of microbiology: Daniel Portnoy at the UPenn School of Medicine and John Mekalanos at Harvard Medical School. With over 20 years of experience, Andy is an internationally recognized leader in the field of microbiology, whose research centers on two major human pathogens, Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major cause of bacterial pneumonia. He has published 132 peer-reviewed papers and 25 reviews and book chapters, including papers in Nature, Cell, Science, eLife, PNAS, and many top journals in the field of microbiology such as Nature Microbiology and PLoS Pathogens. He has six US patents awarded and two applications filed. He has been continuously funded by NIH since 1996 and was a funded HHMI investigator from 2005-2018. He has received several prestigious honors and awards, including a Pew Scholar Award, Eli Lilly and Company Research Award, and Election to the American Academy of Microbiology. He currently is a standing member of the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Review Committee at NIH/NIAID, and instructor of the Advanced Bacterial Genetics course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Dr. Gabrielle Grandchamp is an experienced microbiologist with a passion for improving global health. Prior to joining the PhagePro team, Gabrielle researched microbial community dynamics as a graduate student in Dr. Elizabeth Shank’s Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her thesis work examined the effects of bacterial interactions on cell physiology, specifically sporulation, antibiotic production, and biofilm formation, resulting in multiple publications. As a biochemistry undergraduate, Gabrielle always held an interest in antibiotics and fighting antibiotic resistance and pursued independent research in Dr. Jason Sello’s Laboratory at Brown University researching antibiotic production in Streptomyces. Following her undergraduate degree, Gabrielle continued to research antibiotics and was awarded the Horizon Award for her thesis work pursuing novel antibiotic discovery. While at UNC, Chapel Hill Gabrielle took on multiple leadership roles demonstrating her commitment to sharing science with the community and improving career development for early-stage scientists. At PhagePro, Gabrielle plans to use her diverse skill set to combat the spread of antibiotic resistance and improve human health in vulnerable communities worldwide.

Milka Bedikian is a strategic commercial executive known for delivering product and market leadership in global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. A marketer who has spurred exceptional results in diverse therapeutic areas and across complete product life cycles and is proficient at defining strategy to launch products and grow product portfolios. She is effective at building and motivating high-performance teams, adept at navigating market disruptions and passionate about delivering products that impact patients’ lives.

In her most recent position, Milka was Vice President, Global Marketing and a member of the Executive Team at Organogenesis in Boston, a leader in regenerative medicine. Earlier, Milka held senior positions in global brand management at Novartis in Switzerland, with worldwide responsibility for marketing an osteoporosis and osteoarthritis treatment as well as creating programs to enhance access and affordability of Novartis products in Asia and Latin America. In addition, she transitioned the manufacturing of leprosy business run by the World Health Organization to India ensuring adequate and consistent drug supply to patients. She won the Novartis Canada President’s Achievement Award for building the Women’s Health Franchise and successfully launching several products.

Milka has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from American University in Cairo. She has taken marketing management courses at McGill University in Montreal and has participated in many marketing and leadership programs at Harvard Business School and INSEAD. She has lived and worked in Canada, Switzerland and the US, and is fluent in English and French.

Dr. Tobi Nagel is Founder and President of Phages for Global Health, a non-profit organization that facilitates the application of antibacterial phages to combat antimicrobial resistance in developing countries. Before launching Phages for Global Health, Tobi had 15 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry (including Novartis, Genentech/Roche and Silver Creek Pharmaceuticals), where she worked with international teams to co-develop products that have been tested in over 80 clinical trials worldwide. She is a founding Editorial Board member of the scientific journal PHAGE, an Advisory Board member of the Phagebiotics Research Foundation, and in 2018 she was named a Moonshot Fellow of the Kravis Lab for Social Impact. She formerly served as an Advisory Panel member for the Phages for Human Applications Group Europe and was a member of the Fulbright Specialist program, focusing on building scientific infrastructure in developing countries. Over the past 10 years she has been a Scientific Consultant for both Global Strategies for HIV Prevention and CRDF Global, facilitating capacity development and technology transfer in international settings. She previously completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the American Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, partnering with the University of California at San Francisco and Baylor College of Medicine. Tobi holds a PhD in Medical Engineering from the joint Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.

Alice Pomponio is a systems-level strategist, creator, and convener with over twenty years of experience in life sciences industry, public policy, and community nonprofit. Recognized for her broad and deep technical knowledge and out-of-the-box thinking, Alice is a trusted advisor to organizations and coalitions embarking on internal and external transformation in life sciences and healthcare. In 2018, Alice Pomponio founded Accendo to accelerate entrepreneurial consumer-facing approaches to patient access and affordability to quality care. She advises high growth life sciences companies on patient centricity and product planning strategies as an advisor at Red Sky Partners. She has held prior strategy and operational leadership roles at Radius Health, AstraZeneca, and Sanofi Genzyme where she launched multiple US and global specialty products and championed passage of orphan drug policy across the globe. Her public sector experience spans across innovation, trade, and healthcare policy through roles in the UK Government and US Office of Management and Budget. Alice Pomponio holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from MIT. She currently serves on the Boards of Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, MassEcon, American Cancer Society Eastern New England, ACS BrightEdge, ACS CAN Inc., and PhagePro Inc.

John Tagliamonte has more than 20 years of experience in executive leadership with responsibility for business development, finance, commercial and business operations, strategic planning, and legal functions with established and emerging public and private life sciences companies. As the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the MassBio, he is responsible for forward-looking program content across the organization, while helping to develop the next generation of biotech entrepreneurs. In addition to PhagePro he also serves on the business advisory boards of oncology drug startups Pyramid, WntRx and PercpTx. Previously he was Chief Business Officer of rare disease company Oxyrane and held various executive business leadership roles at Anchor Therapeutics, ImmunoGen and Johnson & Johnson, as well as venture investing with Safeguard Scientifics. He began his career as a scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute followed by global business unit management at Bio-Rad. John received his M.B.A. from Boston College and his B.S. in molecular biology from Tufts University.