Deidre Griffith, MPH, will join BJC HealthCare as the new vice president of Community Health Improvement, effective April 17.

Griffith will be responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of BJC's community health programs to ensure they are responsive to the community's needs.

"With a strong Community Health Improvement strategic plan already in place, Deidre will lead the continued implementation of the plan as we develop new programs and initiatives to advance health equity across our region," says Bob Cannon, BJC group president. "She will also oversee our connections with community-based programs, particularly those identified in our community health needs assessment, and will lead our efforts to expand the scale of pilot projects addressing health disparities."

Griffith currently serves as vice president of programs for Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a national nonprofit leader in the field of whole child health. In this role, she leads the programmatic vision for equitable, inclusive and just delivery of the organization’s strategies to transform youth-serving environments and empower youth to develop lifelong healthy habits.

Since joining Healthier Generation in 2022, Griffith has guided a department of 47 staff, ensuring effective implementation and continuous improvement of health initiatives funded by key partners such as Kaiser Permanente and Novo Nordisk. She also spearheaded the organization’s community engagement strategy, which identified gaps and opportunities to ensure that resources and services appropriately reflect and resonate with communities served. She has also been a driver and leader in advancing the organization’s revenue generation goals.

Prior to that role, Griffith served as the regional director of Community Health at SSM Health, where she led community health improvement initiatives across seven SSM St. Louis-region hospitals. She has also served in community health-focused leadership roles at Missouri Foundation for Health, Washington University and Saint Louis University.

Griffith holds a master’s degree in public health from Saint Louis University and a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University in New Orleans. She has been recognized as a Fellow in the Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy and is a past graduate of the FOCUS Leadership St. Louis program (Class 40, 2015-2016).

"I am excited Deidre will be joining us to continue advancing the extraordinary work already underway across our BJC Community Health Improvement team, and I look forward to partnering with her as we take this work to the next level," adds Cannon.