Laney PhD Student Tigest F. Mekonnen Receives 2024 Ferguson RISE Fellowship
By Karina Antenucci
Witnessing the height of the HIV epidemic in Ethiopia during her early childhood had a profound impact on Tigest F. Mekonnen, a fourth-year PhD student in Global Health and Development at The James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies. So much so that she has dedicated her research and career to HIV, which earned her the 2024 Dr. James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Initiatives for Student Enhancement (Ferguson RISE) Fellowship.
“Tigest is a passionate public health professional and developing scholar whose career to date has been dedicated to improving health and well-being for people living with HIV in different parts of Africa,” said Mekonnen’s advisor Dr. Sophia Hussen, associate professor of global health at Rollins School of Public Health and the School of Medicine at Emory University. “The leadership training and support of the Ferguson RISE fellowship will allow Tigest to pursue her dissertation project at the intersection of implementation science and global health. She is without doubt a future public health leader in the making.”
Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Ferguson RISE Fellowship supports public health research and professional development in infectious diseases and health disparities. The competitive fellowship aims to increase knowledge and interest in public health research careers among students from underrepresented populations. Ferguson, an alumnus of Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine, believed that building a diverse public health workforce would effectively improve health equity for minorities and populations at risk for disease and health disparities.
Mekonnen’s research is currently focused on assessing the implementation of depression screening in HIV clinics in Kenya.
“There is a high rate of depression for those who have HIV yet there is not a good template for how to pair mental health care with HIV care,” she said.
Receiving the fellowship is an affirmation of her hard work and motivates her to work toward making mental health care accessible for those who are fighting the disease.
“Professionally, it’s a tremendous opportunity to advance my career, to gain skills, do cutting-edge research, and to network. I’m also passionate about equity and improving it in my research field.”
Mekonnen holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Community Health from George Mason University and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She chose LGS for her graduate studies because of her interest in applied research.
“This program is unique in the sense that it’s not just research. It’s training us to improve care in the field, to change policy and go out there and do the work,” she said. “I hope my work will contribute to one day ending the HIV epidemic.”
Read more about the Global Health and Development program at LGS here.