Prof. Nega Assefa
Professor of Reproductive Health Maternal and Child Health,
Haramaya University Co-PI at HHR
Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology, FRCP FMedSci
HHR PI, LSHTM
Professor Anthony Scott is a British clinician and epidemiologist with an interest in bacterial infectious diseases and vaccination. He trained in clinical medicine at Oxford University and in epidemiology at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and did post-graduate clinical training in Infectious Diseases. Since 1993 he has worked at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. Since 2013 he has been Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology at LSHTM and co-founded HHR with Professor Nega Assefa and Anna Seale in 2016 as a programme to host the CHAMPS project and encourage research capacity development in Harar. He has worked on clinical vaccine development and impact studies of vaccines against pneumococcus, Haemophilus influenzae, non-typhoidal salmonella, COVID-19 and other pathogens. Professor Scott also has an interest in the aetiology of serious childhood illnesses (e.g. pneumonia) and childhood death. He works on vaccine policy in the policy committees of the UK (JCVI) and WHO (SAGE).
Prof. Nega Assefa Kassa 
Professor of Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health
HHR PI, Haramaya University
Professor Nega Assefa (PhD), a high-ranking faculty member and researcher in the College of Health and Medical Sciences and professor of Maternal and child.
Professor Nega received his third-degree education in Public Health (Maternal and Child Health) in the College of Health and Medical Sciences of Haramaya University, and he became the firstborn of the Collage’s PhD program in 2012. His dissertation was titled “Pregnancy rate and outcomes in rural eastern Ethiopia Fetal and Neonatal survival”. Dr. Nega has also obtained a certificate of Executive Program in Global Health Leadership from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.
Professor Nega (PhD) has been serving with perceptible dedication at different capacities in CHMS of Haramaya University since 1993. Besides course offerings, he has been researching and co-researching several maternal health, child and adolescent health, family planning, neonatal and child health, and sexual and reproductive health issues, in partnership with fellows from several overseas universities and research institutions including Johns Hopkins and Harvard Schools of Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Emory University Global Health Institute, Karolinska Institute and Vienna University in Austria. Professor Nega mentored students at PhD and master’s levels. He has been supervising and co-supervising 19 PhD students from University of Durban, South Africa, Ghana, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Haramaya Universities. Similarly, he has been also supervising 215 master’s students as a lead advisor and a co-supervisor.
Professor Nega, collaborating with his colleagues, has been able to secure 11 grants contributing to advancing health sciences, and building human resources and infrastructures. Together with his colleagues, through the CHAMPS data to action grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other granting agencies, he created an opportunity for eight PhD scholarships at the LSHTM and through the CHAMPS pregnancy surveillance availed human power and equipment to health facilities in the CHAMPS catchment areas of Harar, Kersa and Haramaya districts. Professor Nega is a co-principal investigator for the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) – Ethiopia project, which started in 2017.
Prior to CHAMPS Professor Nega led Harar and Haramaya Health and Demographic Surveillance (HDSS) systems, one of the largest surveillance system in Africa. He was leading these facilities for more than 12 years at different sites in Kersa, Harar and Haramaya. Since 2018, he has led the inception and running of Hararghe Health Research (HHR) partnerships, a research collaborative effort between Haramaya University and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which has led to the birth of a state-of-the-art research laboratory that conducts microbiology, molecular diagnostics and histopathology and provides diagnostic services for Hiwot Fana University Hospital.
