Atkure Defar is a public health epidemiologist and a Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) since 2023. He holds an MPH in Epidemiology from Addis Ababa University (2011) and a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health from the University of Gondar, co‑supervised by LSHTM (2021). Atkure’s work focuses on evaluating equity and the effectiveness of health programmes related to Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH). Before joining LSHTM, he served as a Senior Health Systems Researcher at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), where he gained extensive experience in large‑scale surveys and implementation research on MNCH and broader public health programmes. He has contributed as a co‑investigator to major national surveys and assessments, including: Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) Assessment – 2016,  Ethiopian Service Provision Assessment (ESPA) – 2013, Ethiopian Mini‑Demographic and Health Survey (EMinDHS) – 2019,  Ethiopian STEPS NCD Survey (ESTEPS) – 2015 and etc. Atkure’s research interests include the development, implementation, and evaluation of public health interventions for maternal, newborn, and child health, with a strong focus on equity, quality of care, and programme effectiveness. He is particularly interested in community‑based interventions, implementation research, programme design, and integrating capacity building into health systems research.