Dr. Elizabeth L. Holder (Ed.D.) (aka Dr. Liz)

Dr. Elizabeth L. Holder, affectionately known as “Dr. Liz”, is a native of Philadelphia. She received her Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology from Arcadia University, Masters of Arts from LaSalle University and Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Saint Joseph University.

 

In March 2017, she successfully defended her doctoral dissertation titled, Career Entry, Retention, and Advancement Enablers and Barriers for Black Female Nurses: An Interpretive Study, in Saint Joseph University’s (SJU) Interdisciplinary Doctor of Education Program for Educational Leaders (IDEPEL). Her outstanding work with this research led her to receive a distinguished honor with the Nicholas J. Rashford Award for Outstanding Dissertation from the IDEPEL program. 

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Dr. Liz is a servant leader with over 20 years of healthcare experience. As a System Sr. Director of Patient Experience with SSM Health, she has demonstrated a proven ability to foster strong relationships with hospital executives, front line managers, providers, and nursing leadership to drive patient experience outcomes. Her outstanding performance was recently recognized by SSM Health with the 2025 Spirit of Inquiry Poster Award for the Evidence Based Practice category for her team’s research titled “Hear me, See me, Heal Me: Utilizing patient experience data to drive safe and quality care for all”. 

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Outside of her core responsibilities as a patient experience leader, Dr. Liz leads the Corporate and Continuum of Care Multicultural Business Resource Group (BRG).  This year she has led the BRG team to successfully prepare 5120 meals for families in the St. Louis Region in partnership with the St. Louis Food Back in observance of MLK Day of Service; celebrated International Women’s Day in partnership with the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) St. Louis Chapter; and led a team of healthcare leaders to celebrate Minority Health Month by participating in a “The St. Louis Black Healthcare Tour” with the 4theVille organization. 

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She has a catalogue of published writings. In 2023, she published an article called “Raising the bar of Accountability for Healthcare Leaders with Technology-driven Purposeful Leader Rounding” in the Healthcare Tech Outlook magazine. She has also served as a contributing author for the book, How I Got Over: The Educational Pursuit of Black Female Scholars and co-authored on a publication in the Conversations Magazine called “Blackgirl MAGIS: Connecting Pan-African and Jesuit principles for Black student success”. And, this Fall (2025) she is set to release a co-authored book called “Black Girl MAGIS: Power, Purpose, and Persistence: Two Black Women’s Path Through a Jesuit Doctoral Experience”. 

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Dr. Liz is an active member the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) St. Louis Chapter, and she was most recently elected to serve as the President Elect for the 2026-2028 calendar years.  She serves as an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, where she enjoys serving in the St Louis community. Moreover, she has a strong passion to reach back and support the next generation of leaders, serving as a dissertation committee member with Saint Joseph’s University Interdisciplinary Doctor of Education Leadership (IDEPEL) program.