Samuel Worku

Treasurer, Board Director

Samuel worked in various industries in the US, ranging from government contractors to financial institutions and nonprofit organizations. He currently works at Accenture as a pricing specialist. He is in charge of supporting a few government agencies’ pricing portfolios as well as providing assistance in budget analysis and forecasting, financial reporting, tax filing, auditing, and other areas.

Melat Debela R.Ph., PharmD

Zergabachew Zewdie

Ambaw Bellete

Chairman, Board Director

With more than 30 years of experience working in the biotech, diagnostic, medical device, and pharmaceutical industry, Ambaw has a strong track record of success building and managing multidisciplinary teams. He is also the past COO of FerGene and prior to joining FerGene, Ambaw served as the President of Photocure, a company focused on developing and commercializing pharmaceutical products based on photodynamic technology to treat bladder cancer. He grew revenues by 133% over his last 24 months in the organization, which drove an increase in the share price of the company by over 89%.

Ambaw has also held several global leadership positions with biopharma, biotech, and medical device companies, including President of Medical Compression Systems. He started his biopharma career at the Upjohn Company (now Pfizer) and then Sanofi, where he held diverse leadership roles in business development, managed care, marketing and sales positions in specialty, oncology, and urology. Ambaw has also served on the board of directors for BioNJ.
It has been his long-term goal and passion to increase access to quality and safe medicines in Ethiopia and throughout the greater Africa region to increase its capacity to deliver quality care.

Kelelaye Emiru

Secretary, Board Director

Berhane Mewa Tadege

CEO, EPPAD Pharma

Berhane Mewa Tadege has over 50 years of experience in Buisness management and leadership. He established and has been running a Rubber and Plastic parts manufacturing Buisness. He has consulted and established other businesses especially in the manufacturing area including Pharmaceuticals. He has been president of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia, The Ethiopian Manufacturers Association. He has been a Buisnessleader as President of the Ethiopian and Addis Ababa Chambers of commerce. He manages a Buisness consulting firm. He has been involved as a project manager in several projects. Berhane Mewa Tadege is currently CEO of EPPAD Pharmaceuticals Inc. established in the US and EPPAD Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Ethiopia PLC established as a Joint Venture in Ethiopia.

Missiratch Biable

Missiratch Biable has 19 years of experience in the biotech industry, which includes over 8 years of experience in regulatory affairs with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Astrazeneca/Medimmune LLC. Ms. Biable earned her B.S, in Biology from Virginia Commonwealth University, her MS in Bioscience Regulatory Affairs from Johns Hopkins University, and MS Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. At Astrazeneca/Medimmune LLC, Ms. Biable helped develop strategies in support of investigational drug development submission to the US FDA, CTAs and IMPDs to Canada, EU, and Japan. And at the FDA, she served as a Chief Project Manager where she staffed up the Regulatory Project Management team, and lead in supporting and executing regulatory milestones for the Division of Oncology 2 (DO2). In this role, she received an “Excellence Award” in project management from the Center Director at the FDA. She currently works as a Director of Regulatory Affairs at a consulting firm.

Youm Fesseha

He has over 25 years experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry and worked for 17 years at Merck and Co. in Research, Development and Compliance. Youm Fesseha serves as a board member of various non profit organizations including on the boards of International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) Philadelphia, AEPAC and Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and MSc from Temple University.

Mesfin Tegenu

Mesfin Tegenu is a nationally recognized thought leader in Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM), an early pioneer of PBM industry who had previously built one of the country’s leading PBM organizations, transforming it from near start up to an industry leader. Over a 25-year career, Mesfin has negotiated several billion dollars in rebates with major drug manufacturers. Since the start of his career as a clinical pharmacist, Mesfin’ s focus has always been on developing innovative approaches that improve patient outcomes while reducing total cost of care. This vision often placed him at odds as the industry became less transparent and less patient centric. 

Gabriel Daniel (Aklile G Giorgis)

Moa T. Biftu

Moa graduated from the UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL, Doctor of Pharmacy in May, 2009. He is in the last phase of completing his MBA at BOSTON UNIVERSITY.
Since he graduated from UNC, he has diverse experiences in pharmacy and insurance companies: