Dr.Tadesse Zerfu

tzerfu@ed.ac.uk / tadalzerfu@gmail.com / tadala2005@yahoo.com

A public health and nutrition specialist with over 18 years of experience working in Ethiopia, Kenya, and the UK. I earned my bachelor's degree in public health from the then Alemaya University, which was followed by a Master's degree (in public health) and a Doctorate (in FDSC and nutrition) from Jimma and Addis Ababa universities, respectively. In addition, I held two postdoctoral fellowships at Tufts University in the United States and the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi, Kenya. I have published extensively on several distinguished and globally reputable peer reviewed journals including Nature, the Lancet and Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA).

Experience

Associate Research Scientist

July 2022 – Present

Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems, University of Edinburgh (UoE), UK

July 2022 – Present

2020 – June, 2022 TRAIN@Ed Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions  Research Fellow

July 2022 – Present

Global Academy of Agriculture and Food security, University of Edinburgh(UoE), UK

July 2022 – Present

Post Doctorial Research Scientist

2018 -2019

Maternal and Child Well Being Unit African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi Kenya

2018 -2019

Assistant Professor of Public Health Human Nutrition College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla University, Ethiopia

2016 -2020

Post-doctoral Fellow: innovative methods and metrics in nutrition, agriculture and health actions(immana); Freedman School of Nutrition Sciences and Policy, Boston

2016 - 2017

Senior Research Advisor

2016 - 2017

Maternal and Child Health Directorate, Federal Ministry of Health, Ethiopia

2016 - 2017

Coordinator National RMNCH research advisory council (RAC)

Senior Nutrition Technical Advisor

2014 - 2015

Global Count Down Group, Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), UNICEF Ethiopia and FMoH, Ethiopia (Joint)

Lecturer & Department Head,

2010 - 2012

Adama University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asella, Ethiopia

2010 - 2012

Lecturer, Department Head and Vice Dean

2009 - 2010

Dilla, Adama University, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dilla,Ethiopia

2009 - 2010

Lecturer, and Research Coordinator

2007 - 2009

Arba Minch College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

Head, Ezzha Woreda/District Health Office (WrHO)

2005 - 2006

Guraghe Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Clinician and Head

2003 - 2005

Agena H/center, Guraghe Zone , Ezzha Woreda SNNPR

Emergency Technical staff

2002 - 2003

Grawa Health Center’s Therapeutic Feeding Center (TFC) deployed by the Carter Center

Education

Post doctorial fellowship certificates

University of Edinburgh (UoE), UK

TRAIN@Ed Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions  Research FellowGlobal Academy of Agriculture and Food security

2020 – June, 2022

Post doctorial fellowship certificates

Maternal and Child Well Being Unit African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi Kenya

2018 -2019

Post doctorial fellowship certificates

innovative methods and metrics in nutrition, agriculture and health actions (immana); Freedman School of Nutrition Sciences and Policy, Boston

2016 - 2017

University of Colorado Boulder

PhD in Food Science and Human Nutrition.

Center for food science and Nutrition, Addis Ababa University Desertion: Dietary practices of pregnant women and its associations with maternal and perinatal outcomes in rural Central Ethiopia.

July 2016

Department of family health, School of Public health, Jimma University

MPH Degree Specialty in Reproductive Health (MPH/RH)

Thesis : Traditional Fertility Regulation Methods among Remote Ethiopian Communities: The Case of Hamer District

June 2008

Department of Public Health, Faculty of health sciences, Alemaya (Haramaya) University

B.Sc Degree in Public Health

Thesis: Predictors of HIV acquisitions among Ethiopian army,Eastern Base

July 2003

Consultancies

  • 2021 -SBCC strategy in cervical cancer screening – Project Hope
  • 2019 Personalized Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (UNICEF)
  • 2017 How Ethiopia achieved Millennium Development Goal through multisectoral interventions: a Countdown to 2015 case study (UNICEF, Global Count down Group and FMOH)
  • 2015 Formative assessment on reproductive health services at refugee camps (IRC)
  • 2015 SBCC strategy for child survival – Bensishagul Gumuz region (IRC)
  • 2015 Status of Community case management in Gambella region(IRC)
  • 2015 Clinical care for survivors of sexual assault in Benishangul(IRC)
  • 2014 Effect of ready to feed therapeutic on viral load and nutritional status of PLWHIV (Save the children)
  • 2012 Experience of stigma and discrimination and the implications for healthcare seeking behavior among people living with HIV/AIDS in Arba Minch (Medanacts)

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

  • Member of the Ethiopian Youth academic of sciences
  • Active regular member of the Ethiopian Public Health Association (since 2008)
  • Active regular member of the Ethiopian Public Health Officers’ Association (since 2012)
  • Active regular member of the Food and Nutrition Society of Ethiopia (FONSE - since 2014)
  • Active member of the Ethiopian Bioethics Initiative (ETBIN)

    • Awards & Certifications

    • Study of care and support for HIV patients in Arba Minch and surrounding districts.15,000 USD, funded by : USAID funded Medanacts Ethiopia Project, one year duration
    • Effectiveness and Acceptability of Availing Skilled Birth Attendance (SBA) Services Through Community Reproductive Health Nurses (CORN) to a Household Level at Rural Communities of Ethiopia; A Three-Arm Cluster Randomized Controlled Community Trial in Gedeo Zone, SNNPR. 100,000 USD, Funded by : UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland for 3 years
    • Improving Compliance to Iron Folic Acid Intake and Anemia Status of Pregnant Mothers; A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) in rural Arsi, Central Ethiopia.10,000 USD, Funded by the African Population and Research center (APHRC) through IDRC. Two years
    • Towards a holistic productivity of enset (the tree against hunger with high prospects) in Ethiopia: Investigations on Modern Agricultural, Processing, Nutrition, Pharmacologic and Promotion Technologies. 20,000 USD, Funded by Dilla University for three years