Almaz Sharman, MD, PhD
President of Academy of Preventative Medicine of Kazakhstan

Dr. Sharman is the President of the Academy of Preventive Medicine of Kazakhstan and the co-founder of HealthCity network of clinics. Prior to serving in this capacity, Dr. Sharman held numerous positions around the world. Dr. Sharman worked at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as a member of an international team of biomedical researchers on a US National Institutes of funded study of mucosal immunology and oral vaccine development (1991–1993). The main focus of his research was on experimental models of hapten-induced inflammatory bowel disease and studying intraepithelial lymphocytes.
 
Between 1994 and 2001, Dr. Sharman worked at International Demographic and Health. He designed a methodology for integrated population-based HIV-testing which was implemented in several developing countries and has become a standard methodology for international demographic and health surveys. 
In 2001-2004, Dr. Sharman worked as Infectious Disease Advisor for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Office for Central Asia. He provided technical advice and helped to develop and implement infectious disease prevention and control activities in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. In 2004 – 2006 Almaz Sharman was USAID Country Office Coordinator for Kazakhstan; he served as a primary liaison official for the US Government assistance program with the Government of Kazakhstan, U.S. Embassy, USAID contractors and grantees, and international donor organizations.
 
During the last several years, Dr. Sharman concentrated on healthcare management and academic medicine. He was founding CEO of the National Medical Holding, a project initiated in Kazakhstan's capital city of Astana with six modern hospitals including National Centers for Cardiac Surgery and Neurosurgery. Under his management NMH hospitals have become accredited by the Joint Commission. Currently, Dr. Sharman serves as a member of the board of the National Center for Cardiac Surgery where the doctors have performed implantations of heart ventricular assist devices, Heart transplantation and other technologies.
 
In April 2010 Dr. Sharman was appointed Vice-President of the Nazarbayev University. He has worked to establish the Academic Healthcare System at Nazarbayev University, integrating patient care with biomedical research and education. Almaz Sharman founded the university's Center for Life Sciences, a biomedical research organization that focuses on genomics and personalized medicine, translational research, regenerative medicine, and clinical research.
 
In 2012 Almaz Sharman was elected President of Academy of Preventive Medicine, Kazakhstan's leading non-governmental multidisciplinary organization which addresses major public health concerns in Kazakhstan. In 2014, Dr. Sharman co-founded HealthCity LLC, a private network of community-based centers for personal medicine and a diagnostic clinic in Amaty, Kazakhstan. He also founded the Medtronic country office for Kazakhstan and coordinates the development of a private hospital with Capital Partners, Kazakhstan's leading development company.

 
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