By Carlos E. Medina
When Elizabeth Ullrich first saw the digital flyer for the UF College of Nursing’s new Nurse Administrative Executive Fellowship, she felt it was fate.
“Multiple people at work sent it to me and said, ‘This sounds like you,’” Ullrich said. “And honestly, when I read it, it felt like it was tailored for me.”
Ullrich, a labor and delivery nurse at UF Health Shands and a recent Master of Science in Nursing graduate, has been selected as the college’s first Nurse Administrative Executive Fellow. The two-year, immersive fellowship offers a rare front-row seat to academic nursing and health system leadership by providing direct, day-to-day shadowing of Shakira Henderson, PhD, DNP, MS, MPH, EMBA, IBCLC, RNC-NIC, dean of the College of Nursing and chief nurse executive for UF Health.
The experience blends leadership, mentorship, health system strategy, project ownership and a comprehensive rotational shadowing period across departments ranging from finance and operations to simulation, clinical services and strategic communications.
Henderson said Ullrich represents exactly the kind of emerging leader the fellowship is designed to cultivate.
“Elizabeth brings curiosity, discipline and a grounding in patient-centered care that makes her an exceptional choice for this inaugural fellowship,” Henderson said. “As we advance our Elevate 2029 priorities and expand our leadership pipeline, this fellowship offers the bold, forward-thinking preparation nurses need to lead in complex, integrated health systems. I am thrilled to welcome Elizabeth into this role.”
For Ullrich, that path has been years in the making.
She grew up in Naples, watching her mother, a career bedside nurse, and her father, a longtime hospital administrator overseeing major system expansions.
“I’ve always been fascinated by how hospitals grow, how teams work together and how nursing leadership shapes the patient experience,” she said. “I knew from early on that I wanted to be part of that bigger picture.”
After completing her Accelerated BSN at UF, Ullrich joined UF Health Shands as a labor and delivery nurse. She soon stepped into the role of charge nurse and later participated in the hospital’s Rose Rivers Leadership Fellowship. Eventually, she entered the University of North Florida’s MSN program, which she completed in the fall.
Even so, applying for the executive fellowship felt like reaching for something bigger.
“When I interviewed and learned more about Dr. Henderson’s own nursing trajectory — especially coming from the NICU — it felt like we just understood each other,” Ullrich said. “Every time I talk with her, I think, ‘Wow, she has such a wealth of knowledge.’ It’s exciting to learn from someone who is so bold about shaping the future of the college.”
Ullrich will spend her first month in the fellowship rotating through key academic and hospital departments to learn how operations, finance, human resources, academic affairs and clinical services intersect. After that, she will lead and support priority projects aligned with the College of Nursing and UF Health’s enterprise-wide strategic goals.
Her aim is simple: learn everything she can.
“I’ve only ever been on the inpatient bedside side of things,” she said. “I’m excited to see how academic nursing works, how health systems make decisions and how leaders think at that level. I want to understand every part of what it takes to move an organization forward.”