Kassahun Alemu (PhD)
Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology
Kassahun Alemu Gelaye is a Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology at the department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, University of Gondar. He served as director of the Institute of Public Health; coordinator, of Institute of Public Health Ph.D. school, Dabat Research Center, Health Demographic Surveillance Site Site; coordinator for Research and Publication, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar; chairperson of academic promotion committee; chairperson of PhD Advisory Committee; and Associate Editor of the Journal of Ethiopian Health and Biomedical Sciences. I was working as a Senior Research and Fellowship Advisor for the HaSET maternal and child health research program. I have years of experience conducting epidemiological, and implementation and health system research.
Kassahun works have been largely policy-facing and has been working as a local PI and Co-PI, including the current Lihiket (excellence) institutional capacity development and postdoctoral fellowship program, lead at Institute of Public Health, University of Gondar. He has undertaken number of projects such as evaluating a home-based cervical cancer screening; enhancing community-based case management to increase access to pneumonia treatment: randomized comparison of household survey modules for measuring stillbirths and neonatal deaths; building an evidence base to support and enhance community health workers’ (informal) use of mobile phones are among the recent. Through my extensive collaborations with international institutions including Harvard School of Public Health and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and universities in Ethiopia, I have managed large teams of field staff, overseen study operations, and ensured high data quality.
In addition to his own research, he has been mentoring Ph.D. students as lead and co supervisor on infectious disease, trauma, chronic disease, and maternal, newborn, and child health, 16 of them successfully completed their PhD study. Kassahun have also advised number of masters’ students and served as examiner for both master’s and Ph.D. students. With HaSET and Lihiket projects, he mentored 8 post-doctoral fellows and leading the post-doctoral and implementation fellows on study methodology, analysis, and writing. He also chaired and member of the board of examiners for PhD students’ public defenses. He served as an internal and external reviewer for master’s and PhD curricula. His experiences moderating national and international conferences, seminars, and scientific workshops have equipped me with communication and organization skills.
- Mapping the Role of Digital Health Interventions to Enhance Effective Coverage of Antenatal Care: A Scoping Review
- Geographic Equity in Essential Newborn Care Practices in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study
- Wealth-based equity in essential newborn care practices in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study
- Systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of depression on ART adherence among women living with HIV
- Magnitude of psychological distress and associated factors among war survivor women in Northern, Ethiopia, 2022: a community-based cross-sectional survey