I am Associate Professor of Reproductive Health, Maternal and Child Health, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Ethiopia. My research focus are child and neonatal health, child growth and development, maternal and child morbidity, pregnancy and birth outcomes, postpartum infection; family planning; contraception; low birth and preterm births; and fertility. I am also interested in nutrition, diets, and food systems among women and children; feeding habits, food composition, nutritional status of pregnant women and child survival.
In my research career I have established and led the largest Health and Demographic Surveillance System in Ethiopia until 2018. (http://www.haramaya.edu.et/research/projects/kds-hrc/).
I am also associated with Addis Continental Institute of Public Health (ACIPH), Ethiopia, in the area of research and graduate teaching; Harvard Chan School of Public Health in the area of adolescent health through the ARISE Network, maternal and child health, and nutrition research; and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the area of the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) program, and maternal infection. CHAMPS is a program led by the Emory University in collaboration with research institutions across seven countries in Africa and Asia.