Dr. Hailemichael Desalegn graduated from medical school and specialty in Internal Medicine at Jimma University, Ethiopia. He completed a fellowship program in Gastroenterology/Hepatology in 2014 at Addis Ababa University.

His PhD work was on Non-invasive markers of Liver Fibrosis and simplified treatment program for Hepatitis B virus in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently working as an Associate Professor and Consultant Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College. He has established and is a Director of Sub-Saharan Africa Gastroenterology ECHO clinic.

Dr. Hailemichael has more than 40 publications in reputable Journals and is actively involved in the fight against viral hepatitis elimination. He has built successful research collaborations addressing key questions in the area of viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Through collaboration, he has established one of the largest treatment cohorts for Hepatitis B in sub-Saharan Africa. He was also involved in simplified point of care tests for Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C viruses. Additionally, he led a study on hepatocellular carcinoma through an award from the International Liver Cancer Association. He is currently a Post-doc at Vestfold Hospital, Norway for scale-up of Hepatitis B treatment in three centers in the country.