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Tesfalidet Tekelab Beyene

The University of Newcastle, Wollega University, University of Newcastle, Addis Ababa University, Hawassa University

Research areas: Medicine · Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health · Global Maternal and Child Health · Asthma and respiratory diseases · Air Quality and Health Impacts

ORCID iD 0000-0003-0774-7708
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About

I am an environmental and perinatal epidemiologist and researcher in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle, Australia. My research examines how climate and environmental exposures, including extreme heat, bushfire smoke and air pollution, affect maternal, perinatal, child and respiratory health, with a focus on vulnerable populations in Australia and East Africa.

I obtained my PhD in Reproductive Medicine from the University of Newcastle in 2020. My PhD research examined the effect of antenatal care and severe maternal complications on neonatal near miss in south Ethiopia. I also hold a Master of Science in Reproductive and Maternal Health Nursing from Addis Ababa University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Hawassa University.

After my PhD, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs, University of Newcastle, investigating the health impacts of prolonged bushfire smoke exposure during Australia’s 2019/2020 Black Summer in pregnant and breastfeeding women with asthma and adults with severe asthma. I then worked as a Research Fellow at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute on research co-designed with Aboriginal communities. Before moving to Australia, I was a Lecturer at Wollega University, Ethiopia, where I served as Head of the Department of Nursing, Head of the Department of Midwifery and Coordinator of the Health Science Educational Development Centre.

My current research links Demographic and Health Survey data with climate and satellite air pollution data across East Africa to investigate extreme heat, dust and non dust fine particulate matter and adverse pregnancy outcomes. I am Principal Investigator on a Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (UK) Early Career Grant, funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research, examining climate change awareness and health risk perception among pregnant and breastfeeding women and health professionals in Ethiopia.

I have expertise in quantitative and mixed methods research, environmental exposure assessment, geospatial analysis, complex survey analysis and systematic reviews and meta-analyses. I have published 38 peer reviewed papers in journals including The Lancet, JAMA Network Open and the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. My work has more than 13,500 citations (h-index 21) and 199 policy citations, including 44 World Health Organization documents. I have been recognised among the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University and Elsevier in 2022, 2023 and 2026, and I am a Global Burden of Disease Study Collaborator.

I contributed to the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Position Statement on Asthma and Landscape Fire Smoke, led the writing of clinical guidance on managing asthma during bushfire smoke, and wrote sections of the Asthma in Pregnancy Toolkit.

I am an Academic Editor for BMC Women’s Health and PLOS ONE. I have reviewed for journals including PLOS Medicine, Thorax, BMJ Open, Scientific Reports, Reproductive Health, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, the European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care and the International Journal for Equity in Health.

Employment

  • The University of Newcastle Post-doctoral Research Fellow
    2020 - Present
  • Wollega University Lecturer and Researcher
    2008 - Present
  • University of Newcastle

Education

Projects & Funding

  • Maternal Health Care Service Utilization in rural area of Western Ethiopia Wollega University
    2014 - 2015
  • Menstrual Hygiene Wollega University
    2014 - 2015
  • Determinants of long acting and permanent Contraceptive Methods in Western Ethiopia Wollega University
    2013 - 2013

Publications (39)