Sister Elizabeth Knoerl
Current Ministry Location: U.S. Eastern Region
Sister Elizabeth was born on February 28th, 1955 in Buffalo, NY to Phyllis Edson Knoerl and John Knoerl; she has five brothers and one sister. She graduated in 1973 from Cleveland hill High School in Cheektowaga, NY. She earned an Associate of Science Degree from Corning Community College, Corning, NY in 1975 and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Education from the State University of New York, Plattsburgh, NY in 1977. Sister Elizabeth entered the Congregation at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY on January 5, 1986. She pronounced First Vows on August 1st, 1987 at the Sisters Center and Final Vows on April 12th, 1997 in Kwangju, South Korea.
Sister Elizabeth was assigned to Hong Kong in 1988 where she studied the Cantonese Language and taught at Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon Tong.
In 1990, Sister Elizabeth returned to NY for Congregational Service at the Sisters Center until her assignment to Korea in 1992.
In 1992, she went to Korea where she was involved in several ministries. She worked in occupational therapy, youth work, and teaching. Sister Elizabeth was asked to return to the Sisters Center in 2000 to become the Director of the Congregation’s Planned Giving program. In 2005, Sister Elizabeth went to Nepal to do research on HIV/AIDS. She also earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in the field of International Health from New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY in 2006. Her study was on the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that Nepalese have about and toward people who are infected with HIV and AIDS. She traveled and surveyed three districts in southern Nepal. Her questionnaire for this research was translated into Nepali and is in use by the Nepali non-governmental organization with which she partnered during her study time.
After receiving her Master of Public Health degree, Sister Elizabeth was assigned to Nepal in 2006 where she served as Administrator of more than 12 weekly and bi-weekly mobile health clinics, medical and dental 2 – 8 day camps in the mountain villages outside of the Kathmandu Valley, and 2 hospital projects offering shelter, food, and medical help. She also oversaw a Microfinance project for women in several villages and an Elementary School. Sister Elizabeth left Nepal in 2009 to continue her mission in the United States.
In 2011, she joined an integrated health and nutrition project in the rural highlands of Haiti. She and another Maryknoll Sister volunteered with the Medical Missionaries, a non-denominational group of health professionals founded to improve health care for the poorest of the poor around the world.
In 2017, Sister Elizabeth was assigned to Naples, Florida where she works for the Florida Department of Health as a Biological Scientist continuing to serve those in need with her Public Health skills.