Kearns to retire as Rady’s CEO

Just a few years after his appointment, Dr. Donald Kearns will retire from his post as chief executive officer of Rady Children’s Hospital, but will continue to advise his former employer after his departure.

A pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist with three decades on the hospital’s staff, Kearns was officially named to Rady’s top administrative post in February 2015, but had been acting president of the organization since November 2013 when his predecessor, Kathleen Sellick, retired for medical reasons.

In recent years, Kearns, 62, has worked to recruit top doctors from across the nation, building the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, an ambitious new venture made possible with a $120 million gift from philanthropists Ernest and Evelyn Rady.

Ernest Rady was quick to respond Wednesday to news of Kearns’ retirement.

“All would agree he is a fine man and has done a great job for the children of our community,” he said in an email.

Though his time at the helm has been shorter than his predecessor’s, the region’s only children’s hospital has celebrated some significant gains on Kearns’ watch, earning national rankings in all 10 pediatric specialties rated by U.S. News and World Report. The hospital also received “magnet” recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center in 2017.

Looking back over his three decades of experience, the executive and physician said he sees a clear evolution.

“I think that we have evolved from being a good regional hospital to a world-class, academic medical center. The fabulous part of that has been watching it as it happened,” Kearns said.

Last year, the genomics institute, under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, the geneticist who Kearns recruited to head up the organization, announced it would offer rapid sequencing of genetic samples to Children’s Hospital of Orange Country. One year later, Rady has sequencing agreements with children’s hospitals in Minnesota, Colorado and Florida and is a key participant in the Sanford Children’s Consortium for Genomic Medicine.

With so much going on, it might seem that Kearns is departing just when things are starting to get good.

Kearns said he will continue to work with Rady as an adviser, especially in the areas of genomics and philanthropy, but has significant plans for retirement. A world traveler, he said he made a pact with his wife, Dr. Jean Wickersham, when he took his current job.

“I promised my family that it would be five years and out,” Kearns said. “Well, we’re coming up on five years now.”

Already having visited far-flung locales from Tibet and Uganda to Burma and Mongolia, the executive said Madagascar, Ethiopia and Laos are on the short list for a resumed travel itinerary.

Global doesn’t just describe his travel plans. Kearns said he believes that Rady has the potential to gain a global reputation. Already, he said, its neuro-oncology program had drawn patients from India, Russia and South America, and the organization’s next leader, he added, should have global ambitions.

“I think this next person who comes in can help us to leverage our clinical and research assets to become a global presence,” he said.

As part of the search team that will hire his successor, Kearns will have a say in who gets the job.

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paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson