Edemariam Tsega

Edemariam Tsega (; 7 July 1938 – 1 January 2018) was an Ethiopian physician and educator credited with introducing the post-graduate program in internal medicine in Ethiopia. Born in Gondar, he was the son of a respected Ethiopian Orthodox Church priest.

Tsega joined the Faculty of Medicine at Addis Ababa University (AAU) in 1971, serving as a medical director and internist at Leul Mekonnen and Haile Selassie I hospitals. By 1981, he became the first Ethiopian to be appointed as a full professor of medicine at AAU. He was instrumental in establishing Ethiopia's first postgraduate program in internal medicine during his tenure. Tsega's research primarily focused on liver diseases, especially viral hepatitis, in Ethiopia, and his dedication to medical education and research earned him numerous accolades, including the Order of the Blue Nile and the Distinguished Scientist Award from AAU.

After more than two decades of service in Ethiopia, Tsega moved to Canada in 1994. He practised and taught general internal medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland and later at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he retired as professor emeritus in 2014.

Early life and education Edemariam Tsega Teshale was born on 7 July 1938, in Gondar, Ethiopia to Aleqa Tsega Teshale, an Ethiopian Orthodox Church scholar and chief priest (Liqe Kahinat in Amharic) of Begemdir and Simien regions, He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1961 from Addis Ababa University and a Doctor of Medicine (MDCM) in 1965 from McGill University. He then travelled to the UK to study, graduating from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 1969. Before 1971, he underwent a rotating internship in internal medicine and gastroenterology rotation training at the Montreal General Hospital.

Career

Return to Ethiopia In 1971, Tsega returned to Ethiopia and worked at the Faculty of Medicine at Addis Ababa University (AAU) as a medical director and Internist at Leul Mekonnen and Haile Selassie I hospitals. Later, in 1974–91, he became head of AAU's Department of Internal Medicine. He joined the Faculty of Medicine at AAU in 1972, before becoming the first Ethiopian to be appointed as a full professor of medicine at AAU in 1981. In 1991, he completed his Doctor of Philosophy in virology from Lund University, and acute and chronic liver disease.

Move to Canada After moving to Canada in 1994, Tsega served as a clinical professor of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and was later appointed professor emeritus of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, McMaster University. He worked as a general internist from 1994 until 2001 in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, and from 2001 until retirement in 2014 with Hamilton Health Sciences/McMaster University. and A Guide to Writing Medical Case Reports (Green Book).

Personal life and death Tsega married in 1972 to Frances Lester, a distinguished doctor herself. His daughter Aida Edemariam, editor and writer at The Guardian, published The Wife's Tale: A Personal History in 2018, which is the story of Tsega's mother, Yètèmegnu.

Tsega died on 1 January 2018 in Hamilton, Canada. The Ethiopian Observer described him as "a light in the darkness" who will always be remembered. and the Bikila Awards for Ethiopian Achievers in 2017.

Tsega was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1971, and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 1988.