MEHRET MANDEFRO

Mehret Mandefro?is a young individual who inspires you to desire to be more, to achieve more than what is expected. She is the Co-founder and the Managing Editor of?TruthAID, a non-profit organization that uses media and technology to bring up to date stories, news and analysis about the health and social issues that affect vulnerable populations around the world.?This powerful platform is only a part of her remarkable accomplishments.

Mehret Mandefro, an Ethiopian-American and a native of Alexandria, VA in the United States, graduated with an A.B in Anthropology and an M.D from Harvard University as well as an MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a Fulbright Scholar. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar, a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and a White House Fellow under the current Obama administration. A primary care physician and an HIV prevention researcher, her research addresses the intersection of violence and HIV prevention and the application of digital media in translating research. A feature documentary?All of Us, which is based on her ethnographic work about HIV positive women’s lives in the South Bronx and Ethiopia premiered on Showtime Networks for World AIDS Day and is currently used?nationwide?by community based organizations and universities as an educational tool. She was honored by the Black Girls Rock! in 2009, where she?received?the Community Service award.