Leadership & Partners

Soddo Christian Hospital is guided by a diverse community of Ethiopian leaders, long-term missionaries, and international partners united by a shared mission: to provide excellent medical care with compassion in the name of Jesus Christ.

Hospital Leadership ↓

Missionary Families ↓

St. Luke's Foundation ↓

Our Partners ↓

Hospital Leadership (Ethiopia)

Ephrem Gebreslassie

CEO

Addisu Wolde

Head of Emergency Medicine

Amsal Harbaso

Head, Orthopedics Department

Wubalem Waleign

Head, General Surgery Department

Long-Term Missionary Families

Dr. Rachel and Luis Cobos

Rachel is a board-certified general and critical care surgeon, and Luis is a registered professional civil engineer with a healthcare MBA. They believe that God has called them to serve the people of Ethiopia. Together with their four children: Daniel, Emma, Isabelle, and Joshua, they will partner with Soddo Christian Hospital to disciple local African doctors and local believers to become faith leaders to heal and build up their communities.

To learn more, please visit https://www.cobosethiopia.org/

Dr. Mark & Allison Karnes

Mark and Allison Karnes are from Muskegon, Michigan where Mark practiced as an Ob/Gyn for 25 years. The Karnes first served in Africa in 1975-1980 working at a mobile clinic in Cameroon. Africa had always tugged at their hearts since that time, and they returned, coming to Soddo in 2011. The Karnes have five children and many grandchildren. The Karnes serve through Global Outreach.

Visit Karnes’ Blog

Jason and Ellisa Krumm

Individually, both Jason and Ellisa have felt called to overseas work throughout their lives. Jason has lived and worked in Honduras and Haiti, both for several years, and Ellisa has done numerous medical trips to multiple countries in Africa. Now together, they have dreamed of a place they could serve as a couple, and Soddo has answered that prayer.

Ellisa: attended Westmont College where she obtained a BS in Neuroscience and Biology. She then attended ETSU Quillen College of Medicine where she obtained her MD degree in 2006. She attended residency at MUSC/Trident Family Medicine Residency. After graduation of residency, she worked for Christ Community Health Services, a faith based FQHC in Memphis, TN, for several years, helping start a family medicine residency. She then went on to JPS Family Medicine Residency in Fort Worth, TX to become faculty in the FP-OB Fellowship department, called Maternal-Child Health. She eventually became the Medical Director of the MCH fellowship at JPS. She has participated in over 15 medical mission trips, learning some of what it means to practice in resource limited settings. She feels called to continue educating and teaching, while providing excellent medical care to women and infants.

Jason’s bio: Since earning his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, Jason has worked on a variety of project types in many different locations. Of these, the most noteworthy were the opportunities to live and work on projects in both Honduras and Haiti. He first collaborated with MSAADA in 2004 and is passionate about designing buildings used for ministries that heal, teach, and preach the Gospel, especially in the developing world and in locations where the marginalized are served.. Please contact him to learn more. He’d love to tell you more of his story over a cup of coffee.

Learn more about their ministry and call at: https://www.kfamabroad.com/

Dr. Tim & Laura Love

The Love family is excited to follow God’s call to serve as missionaries in Ethiopia. Tim and Laura met during an internship in Ethiopia while in college and after more than 16 years of deciphering their call and preparation they arrived with their family in August 2019.

Tim is a board-certified general surgeon with an additional masters degree in public health. Laura has a masters in social work and currently stays home with their children after working for many years in international adoption.

The Loves spent several months in Addis Ababa engaged in intensive language acquisition before moving down to Soddo to join the Jeffcoaches to help lead the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS, www.PAACS.net) surgical training program.

Please visit their website and/or blog to learn more: www.LoveEthiopia.org

If you desire to donate directly to their ministry, please visit: https://www.mtw.org/missionaries/details/love-dr-tim-and-laura

Joy Pierson

Joy is a nurse practitioner certified in both family and acute care. Originally working in orthopedic surgery, Joy was living in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic and had the opportunity to help in the ICU during the height of the pandemic. This sparked an interest in critical care and she found it a privilege to care for patients and their families at such a vulnerable time. She subsequently transitioned to practice in critical care.

Joy now serves at Soddo working in the ICU with a particular focus on training and education of the nursing staff.

David and Sonja Selbach

We are David and Sonja Selbach from Germany. When we were students God gave us the opportunitiy to spent a couple of month in Africa (Uganda, Kenya, DR Congo). We both independently felt God`s call in our minds and hearts to follow him to serve in Africa as missionaries.

David is a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon with an additional sub-specialty degree in Hand Surgery. He is excited to train young collegues in his special fields of surgery in the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS, www.paacs.net) surgical training program.

Sonja is a pharmacist and loves to teach and train people. She currently stays home with our 3 children Aaron, Josua and Nathan.

Our german faith-based missionary sending organisation is Coworkers international (www.coworkers.de/en).

For more information about us:

Send an email to selbach@soddo.org to receive our newsletter (in German)

Nate & Cheryl Ross

Nate and Cheryl Ross were both raised in Indiana and spent 20 years working in Birmingham, Alabama. As an OB-GYN, Nate focuses on caring for women’s health needs and training young physicians. Cheryl has served as college instructor of communication and leadership, as well as on a church ministry staff. Together they enjoy serving in churches through small group ministry and discipling college students. In their free time, they are both avid runners.

Their sending agency is Fullness Christian Fellowship. You can visit their blog here.

Dr. Michelle & Adam Yates

The Yates family is from Ventura, California. Michelle is a family physician and Adam is an electrical engineer. Michelle and Adam are passionate about improving the lives of Ethiopians by improving the care at SCH through training, disciplining and empowering our staff in their fields. They have three children, Cole Leah, and June. They have been serving at SCH since 2014 through Christian Health Service Corps.

Visit Yates’ Blog