People Directory

Our team is the heartbeat of our collaborative efforts, comprising diverse experts from various fields. Each member brings unique skills and perspectives, uniting to drive innovation and impact in the health sector. Together, we are more than just a team; we are a community committed to transforming healthcare across Africa.

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People Directory

Photo of Ashley Aimone

, PhD

Associate Director, Doctor of Public Health Program

Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Office of the Vice-President International, University of Toronto

Photo of Kofi Akohene Mensah

, MSc, PhD

Proessor, Health policy, Management and Economics

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Photo of Ann Armstrong

, PhD

Director, ICUBE

ICUBE, University of Toronto Mississauga

Photo of Anteneh Belete

, PhD

Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmaceutics School of Pharmacy

Addis Ababa University

Photo of Susan Cleary

, PhD

Head of Department and Professor of Health Economics in the School of Public Health

University of Cape Town

Photo of Erica Di Ruggiero

Associate Professor of Global Health, Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Division, and the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

University of Toronto

Photo of Shaza Fadel

, PhD

Assistant Professor, Clinical Public Health Division; Faculty Co-Lead, Junior Faculty Development Program

Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Photo of Dawit Wondimagegn Gebreamlak

, MD

Associate Professor, Addis Ababa University Consultant Psychiatrist, Tikur Anbessa Hospital Associate professor, Addis Ababa University, Co-chair and Director, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration-TAAAC National Lead, African Health Observatory Platform- Ethiopia National Centre

Addis Ababa University

Photo of Damen Haile Mariam

, MD, PhD

Professor, School of Public Health

Addis Ababa University

Photo of Dancan Irungu

, PhD

Dean, Graduate School and Director of Enterprises

Amref International University

Profile

Ashley Aimone, PhD

Associate Director, Doctor of Public Health Program

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Ashley’s background and training include pediatric nutrition, epidemiology, and global health research.  As the Associate Director of the Doctor of Public Health program, Ashley supports the training and mentorship of the Mastercard Foundation-funded scholars from African Health Collaborative partner institutions, as well as teaches applied research methods, and supports program operations and development. In her faculty role, she is the co-lead instructor for a Planetary Health course, in partnership with the School of Public Health, Moi University, Kenya. Her research interests and engagements include planetary health education, and community-based research, particularly at the intersection of climate/environmental change and food systems (including nutrition, food security, and food sovereignty).

Email Address
ashley.aimone@utoronto.ca
Profile Types
Staff
Faculty
Country
Canada
Program
Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)
Profile

Kofi Akohene Mensah, MSc, PhD

Proessor, Health policy, Management and Economics

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Dr. Kofi Akohene Mensah is an expert in Health Policy and Health Services Management.

His years of experience as a Senior lecturer at the Department of Health Policy, Management and Economics at the School of Public Health has contributed immensely to the successful training of hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Kofi has served as a Head for this Department and is currently the Head for the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety. Prior to joining the University as a lecturer, he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aniniwah Medical Centre, a 100-bed private hospital in Kumasi, Ghana

Dr. Akohene Mensah has exceptional coordination skills and has led the implementation of several impactful community-based interventions to improve health outcomes in underserved communities. He has collaborated with local and international organizations such Ghana AIDS Commission, USAIDS, DANIDA, UNICEF, CRS, Word Vision Ghana, etc. in HIV/AIDS, child survival, Nutrition, Health care Financing, Non-communicable diseases, etc. These research collaborations have culminated in national policies in maternal, neonatal, child health and health systems strengthening.

Kofi’s ambitious personality and wealth of experience in research and academia has largely been influenced by his education in different parts of the world in varying fields such as Nutrition, Public Health, Health Policy, Strategic Leadership, Health Technology, Health Systems Research and Strengthening.

Kofi is passionate about mentoring the next generation through capacity building. He is currently the Pillar Advisory Chair and the coordinator of the health employment pillar of the multi-million Mastercard Higher Education Health Collaborative, KNUST.

Email Address
akohenemensah@yahoo.com
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Ghana
Governance
HEMP Pillar Advisory Commitee
Profile

Ann Armstrong, PhD

Director, ICUBE

ICUBE

Ann Armstrong received her PhD in organizational behaviour from the University of Toronto.

She has a BA Honours in philosophy and an MBA from the University of Toronto, as well as a graduate degree in criminology from Cambridge University. Her current teaching focuses on organizational theory and design, change management, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability. She has published on a variety of topics ranging from team-based compensation systems to green curricula to doctoral experiences to the social economy. She has co-authored several books with Drs (the late) Jack Quarter, Laurie Mook, and John Whitman on the social economies of Canada and of the United States. She is now working on the fifth edition of Organization Theory and Design, by Daft, R. and Armstrong, A.

Since July 1, 2022, Ann Armstrong has served as the Director of ICUBE, one of the many incubators on the University of Toronto campus.

Email Address
ann.armstrong@utoronto.ca
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Canada
Profile

Anteneh Belete, PhD

Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmaceutics School of Pharmacy

Addis Ababa University

Dr. Anteneh Belete is an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences (CHS), Addis Ababa University (AAU) trained in Ethiopia and in Germany.

He has served AAU in various capacities as Head of the Department, Associate Director for Staff Affairs, Academic Standards and Quality Assurance, Director for Research and Technology Transfer as well as Dean of School of Pharmacy in the CHS. He is routinely involved in teaching and research activities and has presented a number of research findings in both international and local conferences. He has published over 55 research articles in reputable local and international journals. He was the principal investigator of two thematic research projects at the AAU, co-PI of a Science and Technology Minister (MOST) supported research project and a co-investigator and core faculty member of CDT-Africa, a World Bank funded African Center of Excellence (ACE-II) project.  

Email Address
anteneh.belete@aau.edu.et
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Ethiopia
Governance
HENT Pillar Advisory Committee
Profile

Susan Cleary, PhD

Head of Department and Professor of Health Economics in the School of Public Health

University of Cape Town

Susan Cleary is Head of Department and Professor of Health Economics in the School of Public Health at the University of Cape Town.

She joined the School in 2001, becoming the director of the Health Economics Unit (2007-2012), Associate Professor in 2011, Head of School in 2022, and Professor of Health Economics in 2023. She holds a Masters’ in Economics (2001) and a PhD in Public Health specializing in Health Economics (2007), assessing equity and efficiency in HIV-treatment in South Africa. Her work focuses on research, capacity development and policy engagement within the areas of economic evaluation, health care priority setting and universal health coverage. She is interested in considerations of both distributive and procedural justice in health and health care. For the former, areas of interest include cost-effectiveness, affordability and financial risk protection to households from alternative interventions. For the latter, areas of interest include the governance of health technology assessment and related priority setting processes. She plays a key role in teaching health economics at the postgraduate diploma, masters’ and doctoral levels.

Email Address
susan.cleary@uct.ac.za
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
South Africa
Governance
HEMP Pillar Advisory Commitee
Profile

Erica Di Ruggiero

Associate Professor of Global Health, Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Division, and the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

University of Toronto

Erica Di Ruggiero (she/her), PhD is an Associate Professor of Global Health, Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Division, and the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

She is also the Director of the Centre for Global Health and Collaborative Specialization in Global Health and is the inaugural research director for the Sustainable Development Goals at U of T institutional strategic initiative. She leads and is engaged in MCF-funded programs such as the Women in Global Health Leadership Program in close collaboration with partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Moi University and UCT. Her program of research draws upon different theories and mixed methods to evaluate the population health, gender and equity impacts of policy and program interventions addressing health and social issues (e.g. precarious work) in diverse global settings. She studies the role of governance in global, national, and sub-national public health and health system policy agendas in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. She teaches courses in global health, global health policy and population health intervention research, and supervises and mentors several graduate and postdoctoral fellows in health and social science disciplines. She is editor in chief for Global Health Promotion. Di Ruggiero holds a PhD in public health sciences from the University of Toronto.

Email Address
e.diruggiero@utoronto.ca
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Canada
Governance
HEMP Pillar Advisory Commitee
Profile

Shaza Fadel, PhD

Assistant Professor, Clinical Public Health Division; Faculty Co-Lead, Junior Faculty Development Program

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Dr. Shaza Aladien Fadel is an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Public Health Division at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Centre for Global Health. At the Centre, she serves as  the Faculty co-lead of the Junior Faculty Development Program co-designed with the Moi University School of Public Health. She is an epidemiologist, immunologist, and public health professional working at the intersection of health service research and vaccine preventable diseases. Her program looks at the impact of vaccination programs across the life-course in improving equitable distribution of benefits to individuals and community-engaged evaluation of interventions that improve vaccine confidence.

Email Address
shaza.fadel@utoronto.ca
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Canada
Profile

Dawit Wondimagegn Gebreamlak, MD

Associate Professor, Addis Ababa University Consultant Psychiatrist, Tikur Anbessa Hospital Associate professor, Addis Ababa University, Co-chair and Director, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration-TAAAC National Lead, African Health Observatory Platform- Ethiopia National Centre

Addis Ababa University

Dr. Dawit Wondimagegn is the former Chief Executive Director of the College of Health Sciences (CHS), Vice President of Addis Ababa University (AAU), Chair of AAU’s, Department of Psychiatry and Director of Graduate Programs for AAU, CHS in Ethiopia. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at AAU, a Consultant Psychiatrist, Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Co-chair and Director, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration-TAAAC and the National Lead, African Health Observatory Platform- Ethiopia National Centre.

Through his numerous activities as a clinical and health systems leader, global mental health expert, IPT expert, and researcher, he is helping to decrease stigma and improve access to mental healthcare. An Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at AAU, he co-leads with Marci Rose the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration to develop post-graduate subspecialty training programs in numerous areas of medicine, primary care and nursing in Ethiopia.

He has published in the areas of global mental health, family medicine, medical ethics, psychotherapy knowledge translation, and post-partum depression. He was a primary investigator of two Grand Challenges Canada funded projects – The Biaber Project, to scale up screening and mental health care in Ethiopian primary care settings; and to engage with Ethiopian traditional healers, using a collaborative care model to increase the identification and treatment of psychiatric disorders. He has culturally adapted IPT for Ethiopia (IPT-E) and led IPT workshops for psychiatry residents at AAU and University of Toronto. The Biaber Project enabled the training of >500 Ethiopian primary care nurses in IPT-E.

Email Address
dawit.wondimagegn@aau.edu.et
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Ethiopia
Governance
Executive Steering Committee
Profile

Damen Haile Mariam, MD, PhD

Professor, School of Public Health

Addis Ababa University

Damen Haile Mariam, MD, MPH, PhD, is a Professor of Public Health and Health Economics at the School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Professor Damen is registered as a Consultant Community Health Specialist with the Federal Ministry of Health (serving as member and consultant within various national and international professional committees). In addition, he is a fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.  

He is currently serving as Dean of the School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University (since 2019); Regional Editor (Africa) for the South Eastern European Journal of Public Health (since 2014); and Member of Ambo University Board (since 2022).  He has also served as: President of the Ethiopian Public Health Association (2001-2005); Member of the Executive Board of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (2003-2006); and Editor-In-Chief of the Ethiopian Journal of Health Development (2009 – 2016).

Email Address
damen_h@hotmail.com
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Ethiopia
Governance
HEMP Pillar Advisory Commitee
Profile

Dancan Irungu, PhD

Dean, Graduate School and Director of Enterprises

Amref International University

Dr. Dancan Irungu is the Dean Graduate School and Director of Enterprises at Amref International University.

He holds a BED (Business & Mathematics) an MA in Project Management & Planning and a Doctorate in Business Administration and Management. He is a scholar and an expert in Entrepreneurship, Corporate strategy, Organizational Development (OD), and Project Management. He has been a member of think tank, technical advisor and lead consultant for projects funded by GOK, World Bank, Global Fund, UNDP, USAID and European Union.  Dancan has a passion for social economic empowerment and transformation of the youth of Africa through enterprises development. 

Email Address
Dancan.Irungu@amref.ac.ke
Profile Type
Faculty
Country
Kenya
Governance
HEMP Pillar Advisory Commitee