Leadership

AHRI Top Management

Professor Afework Kassu Gizaw (BSc.,MSc.,PhD)

Director General

Prof. Afework Kassu Gizaw is Director General of Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since January 2022.

Before joining AHRI, he served as State Minister of Ministry of Science and Higher Education from October 2018 to October 2021 where he  led the Science, Linkage, and Higher Education Research and Community Service issues of the Ministry.  He also served as State Minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (May 2018 – Oct 2018) where he led political diplomacy activities covering the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania, and International Organizations Affairs and International Legal Affairs. He also was State Minister of at Ministry of Science and Technology (Oct 2015 – May 2018) where he led Quality and Regulatory Affairs of the Ministry. He also served as Director General for Higher Education Research and Academic Affairs at Federal Ministry of Education from January to October 2015 where he played critical leadership role in higher education research and academic affairs.

Prof. Afework served University of Gondar in different capacities from May 1994 to September 2014, including as vice president for Research and Community Services. He has been transferred to Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences of Addis Ababa University since October 2014 and serving as Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology.

Prof. Afework was trained as a biologist and an applied microbiologist at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and earned BSc and MSc degrees in 1993 and 2001, respectively. He holds PhD in Biomedical Sciences from The University of Tokushima, Japan in 2007. He also conducted conducted postdoctoral studies at University of Colorado Denver,  USA from 2008 to 2010.

Prof. Afework’s broader research involvements include the epidemiology, immunology and molecular biology of infectious diseases with emphasis on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, intestinal parasitoses,sexually transmitted infections and other bacterial infections, etc, as demonstrative in over 140 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals. He has been serving as anonymous reviewer for large number of scientific journals publishing articles in the areas of infectious diseases, microbiology, immunology, nutrition, public health, health services, etc. Prof. Afework is a member of several professional bodies including Ethiopian Public Health Laboratory Association, Ethiopian Society of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Ethiopian Medical Association, Biological society of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Space Science Society, American Society of Microbiology, and Japanese Society for Bacteriology. He is a Life Member of Ethiopian Public Health Association, Ethiopian Red Cross Society, and Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia.

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Alemseged Abdissa (PhD)

Deputy Director General for Research

Alemseged Abdissa (PhD) is deputy director general  of Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) appointed in September 2018.

 He led Department of Microbiology as Associate professor and directed Jimma University Clinical and Nutrition Research Center and worked for a total of 13 years at Jimma University with various capacities. He is microbiologist and has served both as a laboratory scientist, and a university teacher. He has conducted research on various areas including HIV, TB and antimicrobial resistance. He has been the principal investigator or active collaborator on 15 studies including four clinical trials. Alemseged has authored or co-authored over 36 scientific articles and supervised 20 masters and PhD students on their thesis work.
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Messay Woldemariam (Asst. Professor)

Deputy Director General (Pharmaceutical Industry Development Sector)

Messay Woldemariam (Asst. Professor) is Deputy
Director General of Armauer Hansen Research Institute
 (AHRI) for Pharmaceutical Industry Development Sector appointed in January 2023. 

Messay is a Senior Expert Pharmacist with teaching experience of various courses of Pharmacy in Public and Private Universities. He has extensive teaching experience in Pharmacognosy, Natural Products & Traditional Medicine. He devoted to publish more than dozens of research articles in reputable local and international scientific journals. Among which he got Research Award for Health/Medicine 2013/14 from Support Africa International/Support Africa Foundation, German. He led the Department of Pharmacognosy and served as Assistant Professor at Jimma University for 10 years.

Messay had led the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry Development Sector in Ethiopia at Ethiopian Food, Beverage & Pharmaceutical Industry Development Institute (FBPIDI) under the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Ministry of Industry being appointed as Deputy Director General for the last 8 years.

As leader of the Sub-sector that deals with manufacturing of Pharmaceutical: Medicine (Human, Veterinary & Herbal), Medical Equipment & Supplies and Cosmetics, the institute is in charge of providing holistic support mainly to Pharmaceutical manufacturing industry on the basis of the country’s industrial development policies, strategies, programs and strategic plans. Moreover, it deals with the sub-sector’s research and development potentials, promote investment opportunities, provides technical support, establish linkage in input supply, and work on market research and promotion, linkage and investment attraction and promotion.

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     Scientific Advisory Board

Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) consisting of internationally recognized scientists, advises on and evaluates the research at AHRI. The Board meets every year to discuss the quality, significance and the main focus of research conducted at the institute.