Bacha Mekonen

Partner Institution: Ethiopian Public Health Institute

PhD Programme: Medicine and Translation Research

Enrolled University: University of Barcelona

I studied BSc in Biology from Wachemo University and graduated with great distinction points. Following this, I earned a master's in Tropical and Infectious Diseases from Akililu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University (ALIP, AAU).

In 2018, I joined EPHI as an assistant researcher under malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). My research focuses on medical parasitic diseases, particularly Malaria and Onchocerciasis.  One of the notable research findings involves the molecular epidemiology of P. falciparum hrp2/3 deletions and associated False negatives across ten health centers in southern Ethiopia.

Currently, I am serving as an associate researcher of public health and a focal person on the onchocerciasis elimination program at EPHI under the malaria and NTDs research team.

I am PhD fellow at the University of Barcelona specializing in Medicine and Translation Research (Molecular Epidemiology) in collaboration with the EpiGen Ethiopia project. My research will focus on the genomic investigation of malaria in Ethiopia, aiming to contribute to global efforts in malaria control and elimination.