Mekdes Megeressa, PhD

Mekdes Megeressa, PhD has had a varied and successful career in the field of pharmacy and science. Mekdes began their career in 2009 as a Senior Pharmacist and Pharmacist at Minillik II Specialized Hospital, where they managed 12 team members, consulted patients, and performed retrospective Drug Utilization Evaluations of the hospital. In 2011, they became a Graduate Research Assistant at Addis Ababa University, School of Pharmacy, where they isolated four pharmacologically active compounds, and elucidated their structure using HPLC, IR, MS, NMR, and UV techniques. Mekdes also published multiple first author papers and presented their research findings at scientific conferences. In 2014, they joined Maharishi International University as a Research Faculty. In 2016, they became a Graduate Research/ Graduate Course Assistant at Chapman University School of Pharmacy, where they purified pharmacologically active proteins and evaluated their anticancer activity. Mekdes also identified and characterized a protein and modeled its tertiary structure in silico. Mekdes published a first author paper in Nature and presented their research findings at scientific conferences. Most recently, in 2021, they joined DermBiont, Inc. as a Senior Science Writer, where they complete literature searches, summaries, editing, reference management, information integration, and contributes to scientific reports.

Mekdes Megeressa obtained their Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm.) from Jimma University in 2008. Mekdes then went on to earn their Master of Science (MSc) in Pharmacognosy from Addis Ababa University in 2014. In 2021, Mekdes Megeressa earned their Doctor of Philosophy - PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Chapman University. Additionally, they obtained their Cheeky Scientist Associate- Industry Trained certification from Cheeky Scientist in 2021.