Health Programs

Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative - Program Staff

Joyce Murray, Ed.D., R.N., FAAN, Director, Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative

In September 2002, Dr. Joyce P. Murray, professor of nursing at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing of Emory University, joined The Carter Center as director of its Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, a teacher training program enabling Ethiopia to meet staffing needs for more than 500 community health centers nationwide.

Dr. Murray has worked extensively in mental health nursing, curriculum development, leadership, and service. She has been head of the department of nursing at Georgia Southern University, director of accreditation at the National League for Nursing, and associate dean for academic affairs at Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University.

Since 1999, Dr. Murray has been involved in the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative, presenting workshops and consulting with faculty from the five health sciences universities in Ethiopia on the development of curricula and teaching materials. She brings a broad portfolio of experience in nursing practice, nursing education, and public health to help Ethiopians meet the challenges posed by an expanding health care system in their country.

Among her many awards, Dr. Murray is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, received the 2002 Teaching Scholar Award from the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory, and the Mabel Korsell Award for Service from the Georgia League for Nursing. She earned a doctorate in education from the University of Georgia, a master's degree in nursing from the Medical College of Georgia, and a bachelor's degree in nursing from Armstrong State College.

Shelly Brownsberger Terrazas, M.S., M.B.A, Assistant Director, Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative 

Ms. Terrazas supports the management and oversight of all operations of the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative. She is involved in the development, implementation, and monitoring of project activities and is responsible for interacting with international colleagues and partners of the program. Mr. Terrazas supports the management of program grants. She also assists in the compilation of reports, papers, proposals, and budgets. 

Prior to joining The Carter Center in 2004, Ms. Terrazas was program administrator for the Islam and Human Rights Fellowship Program at Emory University School of Law overseeing all aspects of the program in the areas of finance, administration, personnel, research, and public relations. She has also worked at the Georgia Institute of Technology in program and grant management.

Ms. Terrazas earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international affairs from Centre College and her Master of Science degree in international affairs from Georgia Institute of Technology. She recieved a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Healthcare Administration from Georgia State University.

Dennis Carlson, M.A., M.P.H, M.D., Senior Consultant, Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative

Dr. Dennis Carlson began collaborating with The Carter Center to develop the Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative in 1993 and has served as senior consultant on a full time basis since 1997.

Dr. Carlson has been involved with Ethiopian health development for more than 40 years. After medical school at the University of Washington in Seattle he had training in surgery and tropical medicine before beginning work at a mission hospital in rural Ethiopia in 1958.

After further education in public health and anthropology, he served as the dean of the Haile Sellassie Public Health College and Training Center in Gondar in northern Ethiopia during the 1960s. After studies in the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, he joined the Hopkins faculty and taught there for 10 years, before returning to Ethiopia, first to work on famine relief and community development, then to teach community health at Addis Ababa University.