Leadership

ENAHPA is comprised of an Executive Leadership Team that handles the day-to-day operations of the organization as well as a Board of Directors that makes decisions around the strategic direction on behalf of members. In addition, our program committees drive the mission of ENAHPA on a grassroots level.

Message from the Founder

My quest to study medicine abroad was born when I was in the 6th grade reading a microbiology book. At that time, there were no medical schools in Ethiopia to educate and train physicians and there were only a handful of Ethiopian physicians trained abroad. So, as a teenager, in 1958, I traveled two and a half weeks from Ethiopia to the United States aboard a cargo ship with no money and a small suitcase. I achieved my dream against extraordinary odds, but never forgot my homeland and the needs of so many impoverished and suffering citizens.

After forty-three years, I returned to Ethiopia in 2001 with the goal of delivering on a promise I had made to myself and my homeland; that I would return and use my gifts to help build a sustainable healthcare system through the Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association.

As the Founder of ENAHPA, I am proud of the myriads of achievements this organization has made in helping improve Ethiopia’s healthcare in just over seven years operating in the country. Many thanks to all our members and friends for your support and shared commitment in giving a ray of hope to those less fortunate and cannot help themselves.

Together We Can Make a Difference,

Ingida

Executive Leadership and Board of Directors

Executive Director

Sharon Ashton

Sharon was Executive Director, Products and Services with UBS Bank (Canada). Her career with UBS spanned 30 years.  UBS is a diversified global financial services company and the world's second largest manager of private assets, headquartered in Switzerland.  Sharon was responsible for the Bank's Canadian treasury, asset management and wealth planning divisions.

Sharon has BA in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Certificate of Financial Planning.

Sharon has been actively involved full time with ENAHPA since 2007.  She spends about six months of the year in Ethiopia coordinating and organizing ENAHPA's activities for both the U.S. and the Canadian organization with their partners on the ground.

2011 Board of Directors

Ingida Asfaw, MD (Founder and President)

Chief Emeritus of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Sinai Grace Hospital – Detroit Medical Center

Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery, Wayne State University

Detroit, Michigan

Daniel K. Daniels, MD (Member-at-Large)

Youm Fesseha, MSc (Recording Secretary)

Pharmaceutical Research, Development and Quality

Merck and Co. Inc

Pennsylvania, USA

Senait Fisseha, MD, JD (Corresponding Secretary)

Medical Director, Center for Reproductive Medicine

Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

University of Michigan Health System

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Melaku Game, MD, PhD (President, ENAHPA Canada)

Staff Physician at Royal Alexandra Hospital and Cross Cancer Institute

Head of Thrombosis Clinic at the Royal Alexandra Hospital

Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Clinical Hematology

Department of Medicine, University of Alberta

Edmonton, Canada

Kinfe Gebeyehu, MD, MPH (Member- at-Large)

Fikre Germa, MD (Vice-President, ENAHPA Canada)

Haregua Getu, MD, BSC (Vice President)

Tesfaye Kebede (Treasurer)

Fasika Mesfin Tedla, MD, MSc (Member-at-Large)

Medical Director of Transplantation

Assistant Professor of Medicine

State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center

Brooklyn, New York

Adam Waksor, DDS, MD (Member-at-Large)

Director, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Geisinger Health System

Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania