Kedest Tesfagiorgis leads the Global Partnerships & Grand Challenges team within the Discovery & Translational Sciences program at the Gates Foundation. Kedest has spent 20 years addressing the biggest challenges in global health and development. Her driving passion is building relationships and organizing the worldwide partnerships that are required to make sustainable change. Kedest partners with scientists and science enablers on six continents to foster innovation systems that improve the daily lives of people in low-income communities. Core to her work, the conviction that the people closest to the problems that need solving should be empowered to work on them. Kedest currently leads Grand Challenges, the Gates Foundation’s flagship innovation program launched in 2003. Kedest has overseen the expansion of Grand Challenges from a single program into a global network, with independent Grand Challenges programs currently running in North and South America, South Asia, and Africa. Over 20-plus years, Grand Challenges has supported more than 4,000 science and technology projects in 124 countries. Kedest also spearheads the Gates Foundation’s investments in local science leaders in Africa. She helped launch the Calestous Juma Science Leaders Fellowship, an initiative that supports leading scientists on the continent not only advancing high-quality research, but also in strengthening their advocacy and strategic communications to drive policy and public impact. Born to Eritrean parents and raised in Ethiopia in a large family, she grew up in a time of civil war and famine that solidified her commitment to equity and opportunity. She launched her career in health and development as her country began making historic progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals, proof that success is possible with the right people and partnerships. Kedest has made her home in Seattle, WA since 2000. She works with a number of local organizations and International organizations, most recently serving on the board of directors of the African Diaspora Network.
