Jeff Sperring, MD, CEO of Seattle Children’s, plans to retire in 2026 after 10 years at the helm of the largest pediatric and adolescent academic medical center in the region.

Dr. Sperring’s contract was set to expire this September, but he and the board agreed last year to extend it through September 2026 to allow time for a national search and a smooth transition.

“New energy, fresh perspective is always good,” he told Becker’s. “And so I’d given [the board] a sense that probably 10 years was going to be the right timing. Last year, we were at the point where we were trying to plan for this coming year. I was incredibly grateful they offered to do another five-year [contract] extension and wanted me to stay. I felt incredibly supported, and I love this place, but after thinking with my wife and family, we still felt that the 10-year mark was the right time to retire.”

Dr. Sperring joined Seattle Children’s in May 2015 after serving as president and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis.

He reflected on his tenure and what lies ahead for pediatric care and Seattle Children’s.

Editor’s note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.

Question: Looking back over your 10 years at Seattle Children’s, what accomplishment are you most proud of, and what do you feel had the greatest impact on patients and families?

Dr. Jeff Sperring: I’m a pediatrician, so in this role, my outcomes were always going to be about the impact we have on children’s health. And I wanted to make sure that we were caring for as many children and families in our community and our region as possible. And I also wanted to make sure that with our research program, that we were leading to real cures and real discoveries that were going to make a difference in children’s health outcomes.

As a pediatrician, I get that the work that we do right now — there’s some immediate impacts that you see — but the real impact can be decades longer before you see that. And so, for me, it was about how we are going to grow and have an immediate impact now, but really set up the organization to continue to have impact over the long term.

I’m incredibly proud of what we as a team have accomplished in the 10 years. Our revenue has more than doubled in the last 10 years. Our patient growth has been significant. But I’m just as proud that our National Institutes of Health funding and our research program has tripled during that time, and seeing the clinical trials that are happening here at Children’s now that are making a significant difference in helping kids survive rare diseases or have a much better outcome.

I’m most proud of the incredible growth that we’ve seen over time, because I know that means there are more children and more families that are getting access to Seattle Children’s care. But it’s also the investments that we’re making now — in our growth and in our research — that are going to have an impact for decades to come. And, for me, that’s the best part. Sometimes the thing you’re going to be most proud of happens well after you’re gone, because it’s not about what you did today, it’s what you set up to happen into the future. And I will be the biggest fan of watching the amazing things that happen at Seattle Children’s, and just feeling like I got to be a little part of that.

Q: Seattle Children’s has grown significantly during your tenure but also faced difficult challenges, from safety concerns regarding mold exposure to addressing racism within the organization. What lessons have you taken away about leading through both growth and adversity?

JS: I was in the Navy, and one of the most impactful leadership lessons that I learned from my leaders in the Navy was that you don’t always control what challenges will come your way. What you can control is how you respond to them. And so, for me, that was always impactful.

Any challenges that we had [at Seattle Children’s], it was about how we responded to them, how we made sure that we learned from them, and then how we made sure that we got better as we went.

I hope people pay attention to what we’ve done since then and how that has been better, how we’re a stronger and better organization from that.

People remember the headline; they don’t necessarily always do the, “what happened from there?” And that’s the part you control. And so it’s hard to go through the challenges as a leader with your team — but I’m really proud of the way that we responded and the way that we got better, and our results continue to show that. So that’s the part that we have the control over, and we will continue to do.

Q: Children’s hospitals nationwide are navigating workforce shortages and financial pressures. What do you see as the most critical strategies for sustaining mission-driven pediatric care in this environment?

JS: We know that the need for services, and obviously for children’s health, is going to continue to be a priority and an issue. And in an environment where Medicaid funding — specifically for children’s hospitals — we know at many of the state levels, and certainly the federal level, cuts are coming. It’s going to be even harder for all of us to continue to find the resources we need to provide the services that our children and our families need.

So that’s the thing that I worry about — for those of us, obviously, who do research as well. The critical funding for research is what will cure children’s diseases and shape that future, and we want to make sure that we’re continuing to make those investments.

So yes, we will face those same challenges as others. I sometimes don’t think people fully understand the unique challenges for children’s hospitals, especially because of our different funding environment. And so, really making sure that we’re making those investments in children’s health will remain crucial.

Q: As you prepare to transition out of the role, what opportunities or innovations excite you most about the future of pediatric healthcare, and where do you hope Seattle Children’s leads next?

JS: I will continue to find ways to support children’s health and children’s hospitals after this. But again, it is that intersection of the amazing research and discovery that are happening in children’s hospitals right now, and then the ability to really impact children’s health.

So even if we talk about challenges and funding, I’ve never been more optimistic about what our teams are actually making possible as it relates to better outcomes, better therapies, new clinical trials. So I’m excited about that, because even as a pediatrician, we are now able to offer therapies for diseases that, when I graduated from medical school 25 years ago, I wouldn’t have even imagined.

I know that pace can accelerate over the next five to 10 years, but it’s only going to accelerate if we continue to make the funding investments that we need to do that. And so I’m excited about that, but I worry about that.

And then the other one we would all probably talk about is the opportunities for technology — AI, some of those things — to help us accelerate these outcome breakthroughs, whether it’s through the ability to more quickly analyze data, to pick up trends, or in the way that IT accelerates some of our science and discovery to come up with these cures.

I’m excited about that, and I’ll be finding ways to be involved.

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