Board of Directors

Deidre Griffith is a dedicated community health leader, collaborator and champion for health equity.  Currently, Deidre serves as Regional Director of Community Health for SSM Health-St. Louis. In this role, she provides leadership on a wide range of evidence-based, data-driven initiatives focused on addressing social determinants of health, advancing health equity and strengthening community partnerships. Prior to joining SSM, Deidre served as a program director at Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) where she provided strategic leadership on multiple health initiatives, including Childhood Obesity Prevention, Public Health Infrastructure, The Opportunity Fund and Health Care Workforce Development. 

Deidre also has a strong research background, developed over ten years in academia (Saint Louis University and Washington University), implementing community-based participatory research programs to improve nutrition, physical activity and health literacy in under-resourced communities.  She also managed a pioneering fellowship program designed to increase the field of master and doctoral-level trained minority public health practitioners.

Deidre earned a Master of Public Health from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University New Orleans. She is an alumna of FOCUS St. Louis’ Leadership St. Louis program (class 40), is a 2016 fellow of the Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy, founded by Grantmakers in Health, serves on the Regional Health Commission’s Provider Services Advisory Board and serves on multiple community coalitions.  Deidre has also co-authored several manuscripts and presented her work at national conferences including the American Public Health Association and the Biennial Childhood Obesity conference.