Lia Tadesse has been Minister of Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since March 2020. Previously she served as State Minister of Health from November 2018 and was leading the implementation of the national health programmes as part of the Health Sector Transformation Strategy. With over 20 years experience, Dr Tadesse is a physician who specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology with extensive experience as a clinician, academician, and executive leader.
She has also held the position of CEO and Vice Provost of St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa, successfully leading the hospital’s services and academic reforms, including forging collaborative relationships with several national and international stakeholders.
Dr Tadesse was Project Director of USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) at Jhpiego-Ethiopia, and later worked as Program Director at the University of Michigan’s Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT) in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she has established successful partnerships with several institutions, both in Ethiopia and Rwanda, to increase quality of reproductive health training and services.