Phage Across One Health Symposium

Diane Shader Smith is a writer, public speaker and marketing and public relations professional, with an emphasis on crisis communications, whose connection to phage therapy is deeply personal. Her daughter, Mallory Smith, received experimental phage therapy in 2017 while battling a life-threatening multidrug-resistant infection. Although the treatment came too late to save her, Mallory’s autopsy provided proof of concept. Mallory’s memoir, "Salt in My Soul," and the subsequent documentary of the same name, brought her story to a global audience and launched Diane’s advocacy for phage therapy and antimicrobial resistance. Since Mallory’s death, Diane has worked to raise awareness of phage therapy and help bring this promising science — and the patients who need it — into the public conversation. To date, she has raised more than 8 million dollars for research.

Daniel Czyz, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in UF's Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, where his research focuses on antimicrobial resistance, bacteriophage therapy and host–microbe interactions. His laboratory develops bacteriophages and phage-based strategies across the One Health spectrum, spanning human, animal and agricultural health. His translational phage program has supported FDA-authorized personalized phage treatments for patients with multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and works closely with clinicians and pharmacists to advance phages from laboratory characterization to clinical use. His broader phage efforts extend to animal health and agriculture, including the development of phage approaches for bacterial infections and food and crop pathogens. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, his laboratory aims to translate phage discovery and development into practical solutions for antimicrobial resistance across human, animal and environmental systems.

Ryan Benson is the Director of Business Development at OmniLytics Incorporated, a PhageLux Agrihealth company. Specifically, OmniLytics Inc. is an R&D and manufacturing entity focused on developing solutions for pathogenic bacteria and pest control. Throughout his career, Benson has gathered extensive experience in business development and sales management. As a high learner with the ability to understand and effectively convey advanced concepts and ideas, he has completed hundreds of hours of structured sales training including Miller-Heiman, Influencer, Matrix Achievements, High Impact Sales Training and many others. Benson is a self-described natural teacher and regularly enjoys speaking and facilitating large groups of people.

Neha Prasad, Ph.D., is an independent consultant co-leading American Society of Microbiology Health's initiatives, such as the Phage Therapy Coordination Network. She specializes in bench-to-bedside translational strategy that integrates scientific, regulatory, reimbursement, market access and commercialization considerations. Her experience with phage therapy spans academic research at UCSF, business development at Felix Biotechnology, investment due diligence for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and portfolio analyses and landscape assessments for the BARDA Antimicrobials Branch. 

Molly Martony, D.V.M., DACZM, is a Senior Veterinarian at Mystic Aquarium, where she is responsible for the health and welfare of the animals at the Aquarium and wildlife in the rescue program. She is a board-certified specialist of aquatic and zoological medicine through the American College of Zoological Medicine. Previously, Martony completed the Aquatic Animal Medicine Residency at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine and SeaWorld Orlando. Martony’s clinical research has focused on expanding diagnostics and therapeutics to advance the health and conservation of aquatic species. Previous work has included validating a biochemistry maker of liver disease in African penguins, advancements in chelonian anesthesia, enhancing pneumonia detection in cetaceans through diagnostic imaging, improving the understanding of cold-stun syndrome in manatees and establishing a non-invasive diagnostic test for lysosomal storage disease in beluga. Through a recent research collaboration with the Czyz Laboratory, bacteriophage was developed to cure chronic multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli pneumonia in a beluga.

Ahmad Hachem, M.D., is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the Medical Director of the Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital. His work focuses on optimizing therapies for complex pediatric infections. As a lead clinician for the Center for Phage Therapy/CHOMP program at UF Health, Hachem works with customized phage therapeutics for multidrug-resistant infections. His role includes authoring emergency Investigational New Drug applications for FDA approval and overseeing targeted phage administration protocols. Additionally, he is part of a multidisciplinary working group at UF currently applying for federal grants to build the clinical and regulatory infrastructure necessary to make dedicated phage clinical trials possible.

Jeff Jones, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of bacterial plant pathogens in UF/IFAS's Department of Plant Pathology. He currently is researching plant pathogen variation as measured by phenotypic and genotypic analyses. Techniques used in his laboratory for studying variation include fatty acid analysis, serology, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, DNA homology and sequence analysis of 16S rRNA. Much of his work has focused on bacterial spot disease of pepper and tomato caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria. He is interested in resistant mechanisms in bacterial-plant interactions. His present approach is to use genetic recombination techniques to isolate avirulence genes involved in the interaction. He is also studying microbe interactions on plant surfaces and in plant tissue in an attempt to determine mechanisms that affect microbe fitness.

Kate DeSear, Pharm.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor in the UF College of Pharmacy and an infectious diseases clinical specialist at UF Health Shands Hospital, where she co-leads the antimicrobial stewardship program for a large academic medical center. She also serves as Residency Program Director for the Infectious Diseases PGY‑2 residency. DeSear's clinical and scholarly interests include bacteriophage therapy, antimicrobial stewardship, innovative approaches to measuring stewardship impact and gram‑negative resistance. Her work is strengthened by close collaboration with infectious diseases physicians.

Roy Yanong is a Professor and Extension Veterinarian at the UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences. His efforts — which bridge aquatic veterinary medicine, commercial aquaculture production, natural resource management, and public display aquaria — include alternatives to antibiotic usage for infectious disease management. He actively engages other aquatic health professionals to consider phage therapies as now viable options. Collaborations with Daniel Czyz, Ph.D., and aquatic veterinary colleagues over the past few years are focused on Streptococcus spp. and Mycobacterium spp., although other bacteria of interest include Vibrio spp., Flavobacterium spp., and others, for fish and other aquatic animals. One collaboration/success story, spearheaded by a colleague at Mystic Aquarium and Czyz was resolution of an E. coli pneumonia in a beluga whale..

Mike Walsh, D.V.M., DECZM, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Aquatic Animal Health in the UF College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Comparative, Diagnostic & Population Medicine. He is a pioneer in applying bacteriophage therapy to multidrug-resistant bacterial infections in aquatic species. In 2012, an MDR E. coli outbreak in Clearwater prompted Walsh to explore phage therapy with his team, later continuing the work through Intralytix. This partnership produced the first successful phage cocktail treatment in African great white pelicans and extended trials in dolphins, work he presented to the International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicine, establishing phage therapy as a promising tool in veterinary medicine.

Aristobulo "Tobo" Loaiza, Ph.D., is a growth-driven executive with a Ph.D. in Chemistry/Biochemistry and over 20 years of cross-functional experience bridging technology, marketing and commercial strategy across large-cap and small-cap corporate environments. As Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of HEDROS BIO, a North Carolina-based biotechnology leader in bacteriophage solutions for the animal health industry, Loaiza possesses a proven track record of leveraging deep technical, business expertise, a systems management approach and vast global networks to help companies transform technical innovation into bottom-line revenue. HEDROS BIO delivers end-to-end, sustainable antimicrobial resistance solutions for quality assurance in food-animal production.