Mark A. Wallace has served in a leadership role in Houston-area hospitals for more than four decades, giving him a front seat to healthcare's evolution as well as changes in the state and at his organization.
In 1977, Mr. Wallace joined The Methodist Hospital in Houston. He was a senior vice president at the organization before becoming president and CEO of Texas Children's Hospital in 1989 while in his 30s. Today, Texas Children's is one of the largest and most comprehensive pediatric and women's healthcare organizations in the U.S. The organization includes more than 2,000 medical professionals who work in more than 40 subspecialties.
Mr. Wallace, who remains CEO of Texas Children's after Debra Feigin Sukin, PhD, began her role in January as the organization's new president, told Becker's he is excited about the future and remains focused on issues such as healthcare access and coverage, research and workplace culture. He outlined his vision for 2024, discussed changes he has seen during his tenure at Texas Children's and shared what he would tell his younger self.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What is the biggest way your organization has changed in the last year? Looking ahead, do you see those things pivoting in 2024?
Mark A. Wallace: We've changed for the better in a lot of amazing ways. We expanded our women's services and recently opened Texas Children's Pavilion Tower II in the Texas Medical Center. This beautiful building is connected to the original Pavilion for Women by a newly built sky bridge and houses our women's services outpatient clinics, including The Women's Specialists of Houston, Partners in OB-GYN Care and Women's Physical Therapy.
We also developed an even stronger focus on behavioral health and have partnered with the Menninger Clinic as well as some of Houston's greatest experts to combat this epidemic.
As we continue to grow and expand our system, we adjusted Texas Children's medical and executive staff governance structure to include eight hospital in-chiefs and seven executive vice presidents.
Lastly, in May, the board and I announced that we were going to begin a nationwide search for Texas Children's next president and I would remain CEO. In September, we appointed [Dr.] Sukin to the role, and I couldn't be more excited for what's ahead.
Things are only getting better for Texas Children's in 2024. I've spent the last year telling our team to think differently and lead differently. We've always done this, but COVID-19 really changed the ways companies operate globally and domestically. As a result, we need to have a strong focus on leadership.
Over the last 34 years, we've built an amazing culture at Texas Children's. Even so, my priority over the last year has been to retain, sustain and build on that culture. Today, it is more critical than ever to have a positive culture and a great leadership team. Healthcare leaders should be engaged, caring and visible to their employees and medical staff — and I continue to call on our entire team to do just that.
Q: Over your tenure as CEO, how have you witnessed the healthcare industry change both for better and for worse? Do any examples of healthcare industry change specific to Texas Children's stand out? How about change specific toTexas?
MW: It's changed for the better because we've certainly had more vertical integration. We've also had a chance to get a lot closer to our patients and their families by expanding our Texas Children's Pediatrics network, adding more Texas Children's Urgent Care sites, our Specialty Care Centers, as well as our community hospitals. We've also expanded into Central Texas and are only days away from opening Texas Children's Hospital North Austin. We've done an incredible job enhancing our flagship location in the Texas Medical Center, but we've also committed to building a dynamic system that allows us to meet our patients and families where they are.
For Texas Children's, it's important that we continue to improve accessibility and coverage because all uninsured children deserve the same high-quality care regardless of their family's ability to pay. This is why we opened our Community Cares Centers in Houston and Austin. We remain committed to serving and advocating for the underserved, and our eight Community Cares locations allow us to accomplish this vision.
Q: What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as CEO? What made that endeavor so successful and so memorable?
MW: In my 34 years of leading Texas Children's, I've helped to build the nation's largest pediatric and women's healthcare enterprise that is both sturdy and innovative. The Texas Children's system is large and decentralized enough to provide the very best primary and subspecialty care in the world. Even better is knowing that we are nowhere near finished growing and expanding to meet the needs of even more children and women across the globe, and it is truly a privilege being able to watch it unfold.
Q: If you could go back to your first year as CEO, what would you tell yourself knowing all that you know now?
MW: When I started in 1989, I was focused on building a strong clinical engine given our size and financial position. However, the investment in our research enterprise has been transformational. We have expanded our Feigin Center — which is fully dedicated to research — and developed the world-renowned Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute. Most recently, I appointed the world-renowned Huda Zoghbi, MD, as Texas Children's research-in-chief, recognizing the need for research leadership as part of our medical staff governance structure. As part of this focus, the Texas Children's board and I have committed to investing another $250 million in research over the next five years. When you commit to research, you create new cures, discover breakthroughs, develop new treatments and provide hope for every parent, child and family who needs it.