Yalemtsehay Mekonnen

Yalemtsehay Mekonnen (born 30 May 1955) is an Ethiopian physiologist and pharmacologist who specializes in the use and safety of medicinal plants. In 2009, she became the first woman in Ethiopia to become a full professor. She is Professor of Cell & Human Physiology at Addis Ababa University (AAU). Biography Yalemtsehay Mekonnen was born on 30 May 1955 in Asella, Arsi Province. She was educated at Addis Ababa University, where she got her BSc in Biology in 1977 and her MSc in Zoology in 1980, and at Heidelberg University, where she got her PhD in Human Physiology in 1992. She is Professor of Cell & Human Physiology at Addis Ababa University.

Yalemtsehay worked at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (2001–2002) as a Georg Forster Research Fellow. She served as president of the Biological Society of Ethiopia from 2004 until 2006. and Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2020. She is a Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.

She is married with two children.