Most people would describe running a hospital as anything but luxurious. But Donald Kearns, MD, president and CEO of San Diego-based Rady Children's Hospital, has a different mindset.
The sixth largest children's hospital in the nation, Rady Children's is a nonprofit, 520-bed facility. It's the only hospital in San Diego strictly dedicated to the care of pediatric patients. Dr. Kearns was named president and CMO of Rady Children's in 2013, and he became CEO in 2014. Prior to his current role, he was a surgeon at the hospital for more than 25 years, and served in roles from chairman of the department of surgery to surgeon-in-chief.
Below, Dr. Kearns discusses what worries him, Rady Children's leading research in the field of brain cancer and why heading up a children's hospital is a unique gig.
Question: What is one characteristic you believe every leader should possess?
DK: Insight is important because you have to understand what you can bring to the table before you can have any influence on other people. You have to have an understanding of what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Leaders also have to understand other people. In developing teams, you have to understand the jigsaw puzzle of people and how you can utilize the different qualities of team members.
Q: How do you maintain your daily motivation and inspiration despite obstacles?
DK: I have the luxury of working in a children's hospital. What I mean by that is that all it takes is walking down the halls of this institution and meeting patients and families who remind me every day of why we're here. I've been here 29 years and done just about everything at some point. It's a wonderful feeling to go through the institution and see parents, patients and teammates who have dedicated their lives to it.
Children's hospitals are different. We talk about the Rady family, and we really mean it. It's a mission-driven gig, and when I need an injection of it, I spend an hour walking around, talking to people, learning about new things we're up to and what we need to do better. For the community and the board to allow me the privilege of [being CEO] blows my mind every day.
Q: What is particularly interesting about your market?
DK: San Diego is the largest city in the U.S. with only one children's hospital, so we have an unbelievable covenant with the community. We've also been able to collaborate with adult systems throughout San Diego, including Scripps, Sharp, Palomar and Rancho Springs. It's been tremendously successful.
Children's hospitals are a different breed. For my area of expertise, I needed to train as an adult surgeon, and I subspecialized in pediatrics. When I started my fellowship, I wasn't sure what I was going to end up doing, but once I started at a children's hospital, I never wanted to leave. A lot of people are drawn to the mission of children's hospitals. It's hard to blame kids for their sickness. There are many sins [adults] commit that help explain the health [they're] in, but kids didn't do anything. It's so much more fun and gratifying to take care of kids than adults. While adults sometimes have a couple agendas, kids want to get better.
Children's hospitals are their own animal, and I'm unbelievably proud of ours. When you walk through our hospital, we have nothing but things about kids — statues, art and things kids can play with. We are here for kids' families, but we're driven by trying to make kids as comfortable as possible. If kids have to be in a hospital, let's make it as pleasant as possible. In partnership with the San Diego Zoo, we have a TV channel that shows nothing but animals 24/7, and it keeps the kids entertained.
Q: What worries you?
DK: What worries me is the fact that society isn't going to continue to cash the check we write for continuing to take care of people. There's going to be more and more concern about the amount of the GDP spent on healthcare.
In pediatrics, we're a tiny part of the healthcare continuum. We need to be sure adequate attention is being made to pediatrics. We've taken the lead on creating at-risk models for taking care of children. We see population health as an integral part of our future.
I hate to use the old saying "You don't have much of a mission if you don't have a margin," but it's true. Philanthropy is part of our dreams, but it's not part of our operations. The philanthropy is what we're going to use to create dreams rather than answer big questions like how to keep the lights on.
Q: What news story or event in healthcare have you been most interested in this past month?
DK: A few weeks ago, we announced a $10 million gift from the Joseph Clayes III Charitable Trust, which gave us the money to help support genomic studies in pediatric brain cancer. Mr. Rady, our benefactor, gave us $120 million to help create the pediatric genomic center, and this new gift will help continue to grow our expertise. In addition, our partnership with Scripps has enabled us to have the only proton beam center in San Diego [which offers proton therapy for pediatric brain and nervous system patients]. The most common solid organ malignancy in children is brain cancer, and we think it's an incredibly important time to start making inroads into brain cancer.