Lauren Landwerlin ’02 Named a Tulsan of the Year

Lauren Landwerlin ‘02 was named a 2020 Tulsan of the Year for leading the St. Francis Health System’s PPE public service campaign.

While most healthcare facilities were experiencing personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages in the spring and summer of 2020, St. Francis Health in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was able to provide ample supplies to its staff and to the public as well. With Lauren Landwerlin’s foresight and leadership, St. Francis initiated a public service campaign to  inform citizens early on about the importance of wearing masks and distribute free masks to the public. In recognition of her service, the City of Tulsa named her a 2020 Tulsan of the Year.

A Louisiana native, Landwerlin was drawn to Loyola’s close campus community and faith-based approach to education. “As a student, I don’t think I could have ever imagined how much of an impact a Jesuit education would have on my life,” says Landwerlin.

Immediately after graduating in 2002 with a B.A. in psychology, Landwerlin went to work as an admissions coordinator at the Laureate Eating Disorders Program in Tulsa. Part of the St. Francis Health System, Laureate is one of the leading eating disorders programs of its kind in the country. In 2006, Landwerlin was hired as physician recruiter for St. Francis’s Children’s Hospital. Since 2012,  she has been executive director of corporate communications for the entire St. Francis system. In this role, she has led communications for the State of Oklahoma’s largest healthcare system throughout the pandemic.

“The idea of being a ‘person for others’ is a part of Ignatian spirituality that has been a common thread in my career,” says Landwerlin. “Working in a Catholic healthcare setting is all about working for others and for the common good. The commitment to our mission is very deep at St. Francis, and this sense of mission reminds me a lot of Loyola.”

“I have always found it interesting and inspiring that I left a university founded in the tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola and landed in a health system named in honor of St. Francis Xavier. The consistency in the values I have been surrounded by in these two organizations is a blessing.”