Dr. Wubaye Walelgne Dagnaw was born and educated in Gondar, Ethiopia. Dr. Dagnaw earned his MD in 1997 and a postgraduate Specialty Certificate in Internal Medicine in 2006, both from the Faculty of Medicine of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He completed his Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery from the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts in 2021.

Dr. Dagnaw has 20 years of experience in clinical and programmatic management of tropical health problems in East Africa, specifically Ethiopia and South Sudan. He has worked with many international NGOs, including the Johns Hopkins University TSEHAI Project, ICAP at Columbia University, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, as well as for Partners in Health and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Dagnaw has helped implement programs for chronic diseases such as tuberculosis, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, HIV and noncommunicable diseases. He has worked in the public sector at both the primary health care level and in tertiary hospitals. Additionally, he has taught medical, health officer and nursing students. From 2006 until 2018, he worked in the private sector as consultant Internist.

He worked for the Ethiopian Ministry of Health for six years as a senior technical advisor for the national noncommunicable diseases and prevention program, which was seconded by the NCD Synergies Program at PIH. He also served as the advisor to the former Minister of Health on health service delivery and health system strengthening.