IrmaTchokhonelidze Tbilisi State Medical UniversityGeorgia

Irma Tchokhonelidze graduated from The Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia, in 1991 during the collapse of the Georgian economy. She started her activity in the National Center of Urology hemodialysis unit, as no specialty "nephrology" existed. She received training in Germany from 1995 to 1997 at KfH Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis centers, as well as at Duesseldorf University Hospital, under the mentorship of Prof. B. Grabensee in Clinical Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation. Since then, she has led the way in the development of nephrology in the country: starting kidney biopsies, building the country's nephrology-pathology service, putting the PD modality into practice, switching hemodialysis centers from acetate to bicarbonate dialysate, starting and running the "Dialysis, Nephrology, and Kidney Transplantation Union of Georgia," officially validating "nephrology" as a separate field of study, and setting up a three-year postgraduate program in nephrology at Tbilisi State Medical University. She received her scientific degree, PhD, in 2004. The theme of the scientific degree was “Markers of inflammation in peritoneal dialysis: a comparison between low and high peritoneal transporters.” During 2006–2015, she was an assistant professor in internal medicine and nephrology at TSMU. In 2015 she continued her activity as an associate professor. From 2021 until now, she has worked as a full professor and leads the faculty of Internal Medicine/Nephrology at TSMU. In 2011 she became the clinical director of the Nephrology Development Clinical Center at TSMU and High Medical Technology University Clinic and continued her current activity in this position. Prof. Tchokhonelidze has acted as a local principal investigator in several clinical multicenter trials (APO-EPO-02, AUR-vCS-2012-01, 1517-CL-0608, 1517-CL-0613, 1517-CL-0610, MOR202C205, ZENITH-CKD). Prof. Tchokhonelidze was the International Society of Nephrology councilor from 2011 to 2017. In 2014-2019, she served as the ISN NIS&Russia Regional Board Chair. Since 2021 she has become the ISN Dialysis Working Group Deputy Chair. She is also a member of the ISN Educational Working Group and the International Home Dialysis Consortium Steering Committee. She served three years, 2022-2024, as a KDIGO executive committee member. Prof. Tchokhonelidze primarily focuses on the clinical practice, implementation, and advancement of all nephrology services within the country. Georgia recognizes her as a founder of nephrology.