Dr. Damtew Woldemariam is a medical doctor with a specialization in pediatrics and child health from Addis Ababa University and obtained an M.Sc. in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, with over three decades of clinical, public health, and leadership experience accumulated through working in public, UN, and international NGO sectors. Between 2012 and 2024, he was an employee of Jhpiego, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, as a Chief of Party for the USAID-funded bilateral program on Strengthening Human Resources for Health (HRH), which focused on improved human resource management, increased availability of health professionals, improved quality of health professions education and training, and generation and use of HRH evidence for informing policies and practices. Moreover, he served as Senior Technical Advisor and Project Director for the USAID-funded Reaching Impact, Saturation, and Epidemic Control (RISE) project implemented through the Jhpiego-led consortium towards building critical care capability, basic emergency care, improved oxygen ecosystem, infection prevention and control, and others. Between 2010 and 2012, he was a program director at Columbia University's ICAP in Ethiopia, overseeing PEPFAR-funded comprehensive HIV prevention, care, and treatment and PMI-funded malaria activities. From 2004 to 2009, he was an employee of WHO/EMRO as a medical officer and international focal point for polio eradication/immunization in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal, and Warrap states of South Sudan. 
Dr. Damtew was a founding president of Jimma University, where he directed and managed this innovative community-based higher educational institution for five years and provided leadership in the establishment of a number of undergraduate and postgraduate programs. As Head of Jimma Institute of Health Sciences, he provided strategic guidance in the integration of training, research, and service. He also served as a medical director of Nekemte Referral Hospital and district health manager of Assosa District. He received a Doctor of Science degree in complementary medicine on the basis of honoris causa from the Open University. During specialization in pediatrics and child health, he was a chief and teaching resident.
In addition to the aforementioned formal education and professional experience, he had several short term capacity-building trainings, including a Harvard short course on HRH, international leadership training  from University of California, San Francisco, Strategic planning and development management from BRAC, Bangladesh, Higher education leadership and finance management from the University of Glasgow, U.K., problem-based learning and community-based education from Suez Canal University, Egypt and many more. He authored and co-authored a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals.