Gizachew Tessema

Dr Gizachew Tessema

Titleholder

School of Public Health

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.


See Researchers Profiles

Dr Gizachew Tessema is a perinatal and reproductive epidemiologist and health care services researcher with research interest that employed advanced statistical analyses, mixed methods research (MMR), and qualitative study. He obtained his PhD in Public Health (2018) from the University of Adelaide and received the Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence. Prior to that, he graduated with MPH (2012) and Bachelor's degree in Public Health (2009) in Ethiopia. Following his Gro Harlem Brundtland Visiting Fellowship from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in 2020, he has been located in Norway between Jan and Mar 2020 and worked as a visiting scientist at the Centre for Fertility and Health.

He has received several honors and awards, of which notable awards include the WA Young Tall Poppy Award (2022), Early Career Researcher of the Year Award for the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University (2022), a National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership Fellowship (2021-2025), the Charter Hall Research Collaboration Award from the Raine Medical Foundation (2020/21), and Adelaide Scholarship International Award from the University of Adelaide (2015-2018). 

Gizachew's current research work is focusing on a developing a risk predicition model to prevent avoidable adverse perinatal outcomes in Australia. This work expands from his project that aimed to investigate the effect of interpregnancy intervals on adverse perinatal outcomes in high-income countries spanning Australia, Norway, Finland, United States (California), and Canada involving birth registries totaling over 11 million births of more than three decades. He published ≈100 high quality journal articles including a first authored papers in Lancet Global Health, PLoS Medicine, BMJ Global Health, and BJOG. He is also keen to apply advanced data science methods including machine learning. 

While he taught reproductive health, health promotion, and maternal and child health courses at the University of Gondar (Ethiopia), he is currently involved in teaching Research methods for Master of Dietetics Unit (statistical analysis component) at Curtin University. 

  • Awards and Achievements

    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2022 Achievement WA Young Tall Poppy Awards Australian Institute of Policy and Science Australia -
    2022 Award Early Career Researcher of the Year Award Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University Australia -
    2022 Award Commendation in Research Supervision Curtin University Australia -
    2022 Award STEM Early Career Researcher Award Curtin University Australia -
    2022 Research Award Raine Research Prize Raine Medical Research Foundation Australia -
    2022 Award Early- and Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR) Award enAble Institute, Curtin University Australia -
    2020 Fellowship The Gro Harlem Brundtland Visiting Scholarship Norwegian Institute of Public Health Norway -
    2019 Research Award Charter Hall Research Collaboration Award Raine Medical Research Foundation Australia -
    2018 Award Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence University of Adelaide Australia -
    2017 Fellowship DR Stranks Travelling Fellowship 2016 University of Adelaide Australia -
    2017 Scholarship Research Abroad Scholarship 2016 - - -
    2015 Scholarship Adelaide Scholarship International University of Adelaide Australia -
  • Language Competencies

    Language Competency
    Amharic Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
    English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2015 - 2018 The University of Adelaide Australia PhD in Public and Community Health
    2011 - 2012 University of Gondar Ethiopia MPH (Reproductive and Child Health Speciality)
    2005 - 2009 Hawassa University Ethiopia BSc (Public Health)
  • Research Interests

  • 2020 Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership Fellowship, Australia 
  • 2020 - Charter Hall Research Collaboration Award, Raine Medical Research Foundation, WA
  • 2019 - The Gro Harlem Brundtland Visiting ScholarshipNorwegian Institute of Public Health
  • 2017 - DR Strank Travelling Fellowship,  University of Adelaide
  • 2016 - Research Abroad ScholarshipUniversity of Adelaide
  • 2015 - PhD Scholarship, Adelaide Scholarship International from the University of Adelaide, SA
  • 2014 - Demograhic and Health Survey (DHS) Fellowship - ICF International and DHS Program, US

2023 - Epidemiology and Evidence (Curtin University)

2022 - Reproductive & Perinatal Epidemiology (PHEB 622) at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health,  USA (Invited Guest Lecture)

2020-2022 - Guest Lecturer for International Health Unit 

2016- Conducted tutorials and marked assignments for Public Health 1A for Public Health students

2016- Conducted tutorials on International Health for Public Health and Medical students

2009-2014- Taught various public health courses (Health Promotion, Reproductive Health, Disaster Prevention      and Preparedness) for Health and Medical Sciences students and taught Adolescent Sexual and                        Reproductive Health, Maternal and Child Health, and Family Planning and Demography for MPH                      students in Ethiopia


Connect With Me
External Profiles