Myrtle Turner Harris, Ph.D., MPH, CET

Turner Harris is the director of Safety, Health and Environmental Services (SHES) in the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute and the Georgia Tech Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Training Institute Education Center (OTIEC). Established in 1992 to provide occupational safety and health and related training — Turner Harris expanded these programs’ course offerings and increased the number of courses offered annually across Region IV (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Turner Harris played a major role in the development of the Georgia Tech Professional Master’s in Occupational Safety and Health (PMOSH) program and serves as the associate PMOSH program director. She is a certified environmental safety and health trainer and has more than 29 years of experience in industrial hygiene and occupational safety and health. She is the president of the National Environmental Safety and Health Training Association (NESHTA) Board of Directors. While working as a compliance safety and health officer for OSHA, she conducted numerous health and safety inspections in a variety of private and federal workplaces. Turner Harris holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Georgia State University and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in general and environmental studies from Emory University.  She has a Ph.D. in higher education with an emphasis in occupational studies from Georgia State University.