Mehret Mandefro is Founding Director for TruthAIDS. As a physician trained in public health, her primary research interest is in access to care and program development focused on reproductive health of marginalized communities. Her prior research was conducted in Botswana, South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya with HIV-infected populations on issues of access to treatment, stigma and health systems development. She is currently a third-year internal medicine resident in the Department of Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, where she is doing research and advocacy work on the heterosexual transmission of HIV in African-American women. Her research efforts are the subject of a feature-length documentary titled Mehret, scheduled for independent film release this spring. The film follows her work in her native Ethiopia, as well as the South Bronx, and examines how gender equity relates to the HIV epidemic. Mandefro received a medical degree from Harvard University and a master's degree in the public health of developing countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Global Conference 2013
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, philanthropist Bill Gates and Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless discuss advancing prosperity in Africa.
