Dr Assefa has more than 20 years of research experience in plant breeding and genetic resources. She has a BSc. in Plant science from Haromaya University in 2000, MSc. in molecular plant breeding and genetics from Wagningen University and Research in 2005 and a Ph.D. in Plant breeding and genetics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2013. She has authored and coauthored 50 research articles. Currently she is working as senior researcher working on cassava and onion breeding at the ARC-VIMP.