2022 Speaker Profile

Carol Santalucia is a seasoned healthcare leader with a passion for and commitment to enhancing the patient experience. During a 28-year career at Cleveland Clinic, Carol held various service excellence and leadership roles, including the formation of Cleveland Clinic’s Service Excellence Department and creation of the Respond with H.E.A.R.T. Program. In 2011, Carol began her own consulting practice, Santalucia Group, LLC, where she and her team worked nationwide to improve the experience for patients, families and employees at over 40 organizations. Carol returned to Cleveland Clinic in 2016 as Director of Service Excellence, where she continued her work to enhance Cleveland Clinic’s culture through empathetic communication.

Carol is the recipient of the Beryl Institutes’ 2021 Wendy Leebov Championing Experience Award, an annual award recognizing an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of patient experience. She retired from the Cleveland Clinic in 2021, and continues to work with healthcare organizations, doing the culture work that she finds so meaningful and impactful.

Carol received an MBA in Healthcare Administration from Cleveland State University and a BS in Psychology from Denison University. She is a past President of the Society for Healthcare Consumer Advocacy. She is also the President and Founder of The Carmella Rose Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people navigate the healthcare system.