Lia Tadesse Gebremedhin is the Executive Director of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program as of March 2024 and a Professor of Practice at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Lia served as the Minister of Health of Ethiopia from March 2020 to February 2024 after serving as State Minister of Health from November 2018. As a Minister, she spearheaded the COVID pandemic response and helped her country to navigate the pandemic with resilience. Before that, she served as Program Director at the University of Michigan’s Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT). She was also the Project Director of USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) at Jhpiego-Ethiopia, and CEO and Vice Provost of St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC) in Addis Ababa, where she led hospital service and academic reforms.
Lia is passionate about strengthening and reforming health systems and has received several recognitions for her accomplishments in fighting the covid-19 pandemic, in advocacy for gender equity, access to quality health services and training and has published over 40 articles, commentaries and papers. During her tenure as minister, Lia was co-chair of the COVAX AMC Engagement Group, co-chair of the Global Financing Facility (GFF) Investors Group, the Vice board chair of the Africa CDC and a member of Gavi board and the WHO Executive Board. She currently serves as a Commissioner in the Lancet Commission of Investing in Health and serves on various boards. She earned her medical degree from Jimma University, specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynecology from Addis Ababa University, and a master’s degree in health care administration from Jimma University.