Bio
Carolyn Murray is a public health/preventive medicine physician with expertise in occupational and environmental medicine. For the past five years she has directed the Community Outreach and Translation Core for the NIEHS/EPA Dartmouth Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center. Her current research is focused on the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study, which is studying the impact of environmental contaminants such as arsenic on fetal and childhood development. She is also a co-investigator in the Dartmouth Pediatric Clinical Trials Unit, part of the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. She has particular research interest in the intersection of health care and environmental health. Murray teaches in the hybrid online MPH program at The Dartmouth Institute. She is course director for “Introduction to Environmental Health” and co-teaches the “Determinants, Design and Data” module for the Foundations in Population Health course. As a member of the founding faculty for The Dartmouth Institute/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Leadership Preventive Medicine residency program, she has mentored dozens of residents in their public health and preventive medicine training.
Murray earned her BS and MPH from the UCLA School of Public Health and an MD from the University of Virginia. She completed a Public Health/General Preventive Medicine Residency at the University of Colorado. She is board certified in general preventive medicine/public health and occupational medicine.
Published Research
Courses Taught
PH 151:
Environmental Health Sciences and Policy (elective)
(0.50 unit)
In this course students explore major environmental and occupational health issues by applying basic tools of environmental science including epidemiologic methods, toxicology and risk assessment. Students examine the relationship between environmental and occupational exposures and human disease, emphasizing the interface of science and policy, the role of regulatory agencies and environmental risk communication. Topics include air and water quality, hazardous waste, radiation, heavy metals, food safety, environmental pathogens, and clinical occupational medicine. Teaching tools include lectures, audiovisual media, case studies, guest experts, and assigned readings/exercises.
PH 226:
Introduction to Environmental Health
(1 credit)
This course engages students in the exploration of major environmental and occupational health issues through application of the basic tools of environmental science including epidemiologic methods, toxicology and risk assessment. Participants will examine the relationship between environmental and occupational exposures and human disease with emphasis on the interface of science and policy, the role of regulatory agencies and environmental risk communication.
PH 201:
Foundations of Public Health
(9 credits)
This course will explore core content areas beginning with exploring commonly used health behavior models (e.g., Evans and Stoddart, Social Ecological Model). This course covers the following topics:
- Health Models, Measures, Policy
- Determinants, Designs, Data
- Healthcare Economics
- Intro to QI
Emphasis will be on understanding healthcare delivery systems and the linkages to social and behavioral determinants of health. Students will also receive an introduction to research design and program implementation, basic concepts of supply/demand curves as well as an overview of the health insurance marketplace and healthcare payment models, and an introduction to quality improvement frameworks for improving health and healthcare. Students completing this course will be fluent in health care policy language, the systems that govern payment and service delivery as well as the individual and community factors that impact population health. Students will also have the skills to assess quality and applicability of research for use in practice.