It is with a deep sense of sadness that the Ethiopian Medical Association(EMA) announces the passing of Professor Edemariam Tsega at the age of 80 years, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on January 1, 2018.
Professor Edemariam was among the giants of modern medicine in Ethiopia who spent his most productive professional life in the department of Internal Medicine of the School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University(AAU) from the 1970’s to the 1990’s.
Edemariam was an excellent teacher, clinician and researcher who is globally recognized for his seminal work on liver diseases and particularly viral hepatitis in Ethiopia. Professor Edemariam did his medical training in McGill University, Montreal, Canada and returned to Ethiopia as a fully qualified Internist and Gastroenterologist in the early 1970’s.
He ably led the Department of Internal Medicine for a period of 16 years and built the department into an academic department with many subspecialty services and a vibrant undergraduate and residency training program. With his leadership, in 1979 the department became one of the first departments in AAU to offer graduate training.
He rose through the academic ranks in AAU and became a full professor in 1981 becoming the second person that AAU appointed as a full professor. During his long period of service in AAU Professor Edemariam served a term as the Dean of the School of Medicine, AAU. He served as the President of the Ethiopian Medical Association at the 1980’s and his term was marked by a rapid growth in the number of research presentations association’s annual conferences.
Professor Edemariam emigrated to Canada in the mid 1990’s but maintained his contact with his home country through regular academic visits to the University of Gondar where he taught undergraduate medical students and provided endoscopy training to specialists in internal medicine and surgery.
He is survived by his wife, Dr Frances Lester, and their four children.
The EMA extends its condolences to his immediate and extended family and to his friends, colleagues and former students.