Abebaw is Head of the Africa Centre of Excellence for medical discovery & clinical trials (CDT-Africa) and co-director of the WHO collaborating centre for mental health research and capacity building at the College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University. CDT-Africa is responsible for regional capacity building in medical product development with focus on neglected tropical diseases and health care delivery innovations. Abebaw is also an African Research Leader (supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and DfID, UK), Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He has published over 150 peer reviewed articles.

He serves or has served in various national and international panels including Lancet Commissions, WHO, the UK Medical Research Council and the US Institute of Medicine. Abebaw is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Addis Ababa University and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Sussex (since March 2017) and King’s College London (since March 2019).

Abebaw graduated in Medicine from Addis Ababa University and trained in Clinical Psychiatry and Psychopharmacology in the United Kingdom. His research interests are in clinical trials, complex interventions, mood disorders and knowledge translation. When he has ‘time to spare’, he likes to watch football (English soccer) and play a local musical instrument (Kirar).  

Dr. Yimtubezinash Woldeamanuel is Regulatory Affairs Lead at CDT Africa and Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology at College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University. She has done research in Medical Microbiology and infectious diseases and contributed in dissemination of findings through publications in reputable journals. She is currently Chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at College of Health Sciences and has contributed to the capacity building of research ethics review at the National level as well as other African countries. Her current research interests are in health care associated with infections and anti-microbial resistance.