Kedest Mathewos joined UGHE in July 2020 as a Research Associate to the Vice Chancellor. She recently graduated from Duke University with bachelor’s degrees in Global Health and Economics. As an undergraduate student, she was involved in various research projects. In Madagascar, she conducted fieldwork to examine the relationship between cooking practices and indoor air pollution. She also completed the groundwork for the creation of a Global Care Index that evaluates countries based on the level of protection afforded to care workers. Moreover, while interning for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Ms. Mathewos developed training materials for the NGO’s curriculum on Compassionate and Respectful Care. As the culmination of her undergraduate career, she wrote her thesis examining the impact of Chinese financing on productivity levels in the African continent. 

Ms. Mathewos is passionate about the international development field overall, with a particular interest in public health. She’s interested in the intersection between public health and development economics and hopes to utilize insights from the later to improve healthcare access. Within the public health field, she is interested in further understanding the management of health systems – the leadership structure, financing schemes, resource allocation and community engagement efforts – with the goal of orienting these systems towards equitable healthcare delivery. She wishes to work on health systems strengthening through public health research, program design and impact evaluations.