Zelalem Tadesse

Dr Zelalem Tadesse has more than 25 years of extensive experience as a veterinary epidemiologist in Africa and the Middle East with hands-on experience in formulating and implementation of disease surveillance strategies, control programs, management of animal health information system and animal health risk analysis. 

Prior to joining FAO as ECTAD Country Team Leader in 2016, MrTadesse worked at the African Union-Interafrica Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) for five years as a Continental Epidemiologist. 

Since he joined FAO 8 years ago, Zelalem has been tasked to manage projects and provide leadership to multi-disciplinary teams of experts in Tanzania (2016-2017), Kenya (2018-2019) and Egypt (since 2020). In this capacity, he has coordinated FAO’s efforts in building and strengthening core capacities of the animal health system for better prevention, detection, and response to high-impact emerging and endemic zoonotic diseases and AMR. He has also played a role in advancing multi-sectoral collaboration through supporting the establishment and operationalization of national One Health platforms.

Since August 2023, Zelalem has joined FAO headquarters as a Senior Animal Health Officer and he’s currently in charge of coordinating FAO’s work on emerging zoonoses and One Health activities within the organization and with partner organizations.

Dr Tadesse is a national of Ethiopia and holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Addis Ababa University, and MSc in Epidemiology from the University of London.