Misrak Makonnen is a seasoned public health professional with over 20 years of experience in international public health and development. Since 2016, she has served as the Country Director for Amref Health Africa in Ethiopia, where she leads a diverse program portfolio encompassing Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health, Health System Strengthening, Youth Development, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and Disease Prevention and Control.

Before joining Amref, Misrak’s extensive career includes overseeing a USAID-funded $30 million project on maternal and child health (MNCH) and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) as IntraHealth’s Country Director/Chief of Party in Ethiopia. She has also held key roles in the PEPFAR-funded AIDS Relief program across Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, and served as the Director of Programs for the University of Washington’s International Training and Education Center on HIV (ITECH) in Ethiopia.

Misrak began her career as a senior program officer at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. With a keen eye trained towards living and working in her home country, Ethiopia, Misrak honed her technical, program, and financial management, capacity building, and business development skills at the Ethiopia offices of University of Washington I-TECH and IntraHealth International. She also provided regional technical support of the East Africa Regional Offices through Catholic Relief Services.

Misrak holds a Master’s degree in Public Health and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.