Moving across the world to pursue his dreams, Ibsa Ahmed has paved the way for success and broader change in Ethiopia’s rural regions.
Hailing from Dire Dawa in Eastern Ethiopia, Ahmed first took interest in public health after feeling a strong pull toward work that creates a positive change on his environment and local community.
Ahmed earned a bachelor’s degree in public health and a master’s degree in health service management from the School of Public Health within the College of Health and Medical Sciences at Haramaya University. There, Ahmed worked as a lecturer, field researcher and outreach coordinator while grounding his professional experience in emergency response care.
As his passion for public health grew, so did his interest in tackling some of Ethiopia’s most pressing issues, including malnutrition, food insecurity and maternal and child health.
He was first introduced to the University of Florida in 2018 while living in Ethiopia through a partnership between UF and Haramaya University. The two universities came together to collaborate on the CAGED research project, an interdisciplinary project led by UF’s Arie Havelaar that investigated Campylobacter infection in livestock and how it affects the health of children in rural Ethiopian communities.
For six years, Ahmed collected data and monitored fieldwork, leading the human health components of data collection.
It was this experience that sparked his interest in taking his education a step further by pursuing his PhD in public health with a concentration in One Health from the University of Florida Department of Environmental and Global Health within the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions. Ahmed has been collaborating with Dr. Sarah McKune, CAGED study CoPI since 2018.
“I joined the University of Florida because of the positive experience with its professors and researchers and the connections I built with them,” Ahmed said.
Furthermore, Ahmed said he was particularly drawn to the EGH department’s strong focus on the One Health approach.
“The One Health approach is crucial for addressing the complex issues we currently face in my country, and many of the challenges are linked to animal and environmental factors,” he said. “Using a multidisciplinary approach from different fields to tackle a problem is very needed in my country.”
Though this is Ahmed’s first semester in his PhD program, he is eager to dive into how he can improve maternal and child health outcomes through a One Health lens. More specifically, he will explore infant and child feeding practices to develop strategies to fight malnutrition in low socioeconomic environments.
His current work particularly hits home, as food insecurity is an ongoing battle in Ethiopia, he said.
“I have a personal connection to my research,” he continued. “I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it.”
Ahmed also credits his growing ambitions to two mentors who have made a significant impact on chasing his dreams: Dr. Sarah McKune, a research associate professor and interim department chair from the UF EGH department, and Dr. Jemal Yousuf, the president of Haramaya University.
“Dr. McKune’s expertise in One Health and leadership style has been truly inspiring,” Ahmed said. “She has a unique ability to bring team members together and encourage us to feel empowered in our work.”
He also thanks Dr. Yousuf for his exemplary leadership and dedication to the CAGED project.
“Despite his prestigious position, he’s a very humble guy, and he gave me the opportunity to work on the (CAGED) project,” Ahmed added. “He taught me the importance of perseverance and understanding the bigger picture.
“Without the mentorship of these two mentors, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
Currently, Ahmed is wrapping up his work on the CAGED project and moving on to a USAID Challenge project that focuses on maternal nutrition and its impact on fetal growth and development. This research will provide further insight into how malnutrition affects stunted growth.
Looking forward, Ahmed hopes to apply his One Health expertise toward taking on Ethiopia’s public health challenges regionally and create sustainable solutions for vulnerable populations globally.
“My career goal is ambitious; I want to become a leading public health researcher with a particular focus on global health challenges in underserved communities,” he said. “My biggest aspiration is to establish this region’s first One Health Center of Excellence to serve as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement.”
For Ahmed, no dream is too small and no challenge is too daunting with the combined efforts from local change makers, dedicated researchers and a drive for making a difference.
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