Seattle Children's Hospital
Dr. Christopher Longhurst, chief clinical and innovation officer at UC San Diego Health, has advanced to the final round in the search to become chief executive officer of Seattle Children’s Hospital, one of the nation’s premier pediatric health systems. Although an accomplished physician, informatics leader, and healthcare innovator, Longhurst faces a challenge common to many aspiring physician executives: persuading a board dominated by business and technology leaders that he is not simply an outstanding doctor, but an enterprise leader capable of running a muli-billion-dollar organization.
The case explores the growing disconnect between physicians’ interest in CEO roles and their relatively low representation in the executive suite. It follows Longhurst through a rigorous, multi-stage search process, highlighting how executive recruiters coach physician candidates to shift from emphasizing clinical expertise to demonstrating strategic vision, operational judgment, financial acumen, and stakeholder leadership.
After Longhurst wins the position, the case shifts from career advancement to executive leadership. He inherits an institution recovering from years of crisis, including patient-safety failures, racial discrimination litigation, workforce tensions, and financial pressures. Although Seattle Children’s has regained financial stability and possesses an ambitious long-term strategy centered on innovation, research, philanthropy, and expansion—including a proposed $3 billion second hospital campus—its new CEO immediately confronts competing priorities. Without a chief operating officer, Longhurst must balance day-to-day operational demands with rebuilding organizational culture, strengthening relationships with clinicians and donors, navigating uncertain public funding, expanding access, recruiting senior leaders, and determining how best to allocate billions of dollars in future capital investments.
As Longhurst fills his office whiteboard with interconnected strategic initiatives, he faces the central question confronting many first-time CEOs: with limited time, attention, and political capital, where should he begin? The case invites students to examine CEO succession, leadership transitions, physician leadership, strategic prioritization, organizational culture, governance, and change management during a pivotal moment in the life of a major academic medical center.