Trainer Biography
Ruth Teseyem Tadesse
Ruth Teseyem Tadesse currently serves as a Community Health Project Specialist at the University of California San Diego within the Center for Community Health. Ruth works to support health education programs that help individuals, families, and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. As a Health Specialist, Ruth uses data to identify community needs prior to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. Ruth plays a role in providing insight and data for the cultural competency training that was accumulated through work with the Refugee Health Unit at UCSD.
Ruth earned her bachelor’s degree in International Studies, and a Health minor from Illinois Wesleyan University, and is soon to be a graduate of SDSU with a Master of Public Health Policy and Management. As an Ethiopian, she believes that pursuing a master’s degree in public health will enable her to aid in tackling the frustrating and inadequate policies that plague much of the African continent. Ruth hopes to continue to be an active participant in organizations advocating for social change and healthier communities; especially consisting of the Sub-Saharan African community. Ruth has a passion for advocacy and has often been involved in various campaigns to promote pressing issues globally, such as addressing famine in Yemen, women’s rights issues in Sub-Saharan Africa, and protecting various vulnerable groups. Ruth previously served as a Program Assistant for Engage Globally, an NGO working to provide environmental and educational community-led sustainable development in rural Northern Ghana.