Professor Senait Fisseha is a globally-recognized leader in reproductive health & rights and a lifelong gender champion. She currently serves as the Director of Global Programs at the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, as well as Chief Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization. A reproductive endocrinology specialist, prior to these roles, Dr. Fisseha was the Chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at the University of Michigan, Medical Director of University of Michigan’s Center for Reproductive Medicine and founding Executive Director of the Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT). While at Michigan, she also co-directed the Medical School’s Path of Excellence in Global Health & Disparities. As leader of the U-M-Ethiopia Collaborative Platform for Global Health, she helped Michigan forge strong partnerships with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and the St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa.
Professor Fisseha was born in Ethiopia and earned an undergraduate degree from Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois, M.D. and J.D. degrees from Southern Illinois University, and a certificate in International Human Rights and Comparative Law from the University of Oxford. She has received numerous awards including the Ethiopian Ministry of Health’s highest award, the University of Michigan’s Bicentennial Alumni Award and the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She was also named as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans for 2018 by New African magazine and one of the 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy in 2019.
