Bisrat Dessalegn 26PH

Bisrat Dessalegn is a second-year MPH student in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Rollins School of Public Health. Originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she brings experience in feminist leadership, youth-centered programming, and policy advocacy. Before Emory, she worked as a program officer supporting adolescents, youth groups, and community organizations to make Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services more accessible. 

Dessalegn later moved into feminist research, studying women’s economic empowerment, unpaid care work, and policy efforts advancing gender equity. She has collaborated with Oxfam and Christian Aid on feminist economics and development frameworks grounded in care and justice. She also has represented youth and feminist networks at global convenings, including the United Nations Summit of the Future and the United Nations Financing for Development Forum. At Rollins, she contributes to a multi-country Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) project and is co-authoring a paper on the cognitive labor burden of WASH and its implications for gender equitable development. She also serves as creative chair for the Emory Reproductive Health Association.