Georges Wagnières received his PhD in Physics (Biomedical optics) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland (1992). He carried out his postdoctoral work at the Wellman Laboratories of Photomedicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA (1993-1994). He also obtained an M.Sc. in Master in Management, Technology and Entrepreneurship from the University of Lausanne Faculty of Business and Economics (2001).

In 1994, Georges Wagnières assumed leadership of a research group at EPFL, active in photomedicine and biomedical optics. He authored more than 245 papers (more than 160 in international journals with review board) and is listed as an inventor on 18 patents. He co-founded and was chairman of two spin-off companies.

His areas of expertise include: Photobiomodulation; Photodynamic therapy; Light delivery and dosimetry; Tissue optics; Tissue characterization and malignancies detection by fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging; Preclinical and clinical development and characterization of photosensitizers, fluorescent markers and photodiagnostic instruments.