Ashelew Alemu Marie is a Senior Radiopharmacist and Lecturer at the Addis Ababa University Ethiopia. He holds an Msc in radiopharmacy from Goce Delčev University, Štip, North Macedonia, and an MSc in Pharmacology from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He also completed a four-month intensive specialised training program in Radiopharmacy at Stellenbosch South Africa. Additional professional development includes numerous short-term training courses in Radiopharmacy, Medical Imaging and the Health Applications of Nuclear Technology. He has a broad expertise in the scientific and clinical applications of nuclear medicine.

I met Aschalew when I attended the IAEA Rays of Hope meeting in Ethiopia 2025. We both are active members in the Oncidium Foundation, and what struck me is the sense of community in Ethiopia and also the drive to growth. We started to formulate a PhD topic for him, and naturally took into account the burden of Malaria that is currently prevalent in Ethiopia. This was also a unique opportunity to bring Addis Ababa University together in a collaborative project on infection imaging with the South African Nuclear Medicine Infrastructure Project (NuMeRI).

Research interests:

• Formulation and development of peptide- and antibody-based theranostics

• Targeted molecular imaging, radionuclide therapy, radiopharmaceutical design and optimisation