Children’s Mercy gets new leader who donors say supports hospital’s research mission
Children’s Mercy has hired the head of a Michigan hospital system to be president and chief executive officer of the 125-year-old organization specializing in pediatric care within the Kansas City region.
Dr. Alejandro Quiroga will start next month. He replaces Paul Kempinski, who announced his retirement last spring after coming under criticism from donors after firing the director the Children’s Mercy’s Research Institute.
A physician whose speciality is the treatment of kidney diseases in children, Quiroga is currently president of Corewell Health West, a network of 10 hospitals including the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. Corewell Health West is a subsidiary of Corewell Health, which Children’s Mercy said is the largest health care system in Michigan.
While not a researcher, Quiroga has what Children’s Mercy board chair Diane Gallagher called “a strong research mindset” in addition to his skills as an administrator.
Search committee member Donald Hall Jr. agreed.
“Dr. Quiroga’s training as a pediatrician and his focus on research innovation, coupled with his demonstrated excellence as a health system leader, make him uniquely qualified to lead Children’s Mercy into the future,” said Hall, executive chairman of the board at Hallmark Cards.
He is also board chair of the Hall Family Foundation, which as The Star first reported temporarily suspended donations to Children’s Mercy after Kempinski fired Tom Curran late last year as executive director of the hospital’s research institute. The Hall family was largely responsible for construction of the research institute building on Hospital Hill that opened in 2021 and in selecting Curran as its founding director in 2015. An endowment from the late Donald Hall Sr. paid Curran’s salary.
Kempinski joined Children’s Mercy in late 2018 and, as The Star reported last summer, was seen by hospital donors as being less committed to the research mission than they were.
Under Kempinski, the Children’s Mercy Research Institute fell shy of its recruitment goals for top pediatric cancer researchers, which threatened its continued designation as a member of the area’s cancer center consortium, The Star reported last summer.
Children’s Mercy interim executive director of research said at the time that the hospital was working to retain that designation and remained committed to medical research.
Kempinski will stay on through January to ensure what the hospital said would be a seamless transition.
“It has been an honor to serve as President & CEO of one of the finest children’s health systems in the country,” Kempinski said in the new release announcing the name of his replacement.
“Dr. Quiroga is the right leader to take Children’s Mercy into its next chapter of growth.”
Quiroga received his medical degree from the Universidad Del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia, Children’s Mercy said. He completed a clinical clerkship in neurology and pediatric neurology, as well as a research clerkship in pediatric oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He did his residency at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and pediatric nephrology fellowship at Montefiore Children’s Hospital in New York City.
In a YouTube video announcing his hiring, Quiroga said the Children’s Mercy job was “a dream come true.”
“I have watched Children’s Mercy from afar and have been inspired by the excellence in pediatric clinical care and groundbreaking research,” he said.
“I have long admired Children’s Mercy and the impressive, caring and committed talent that makes this hospital system world-class. Joining a team that is brimming with excellence, as well as a community that is so deeply supportive of the research and care delivered to children, is truly energizing. Together, we will continue to live out the purpose of Children’s Mercy – to create a world of well-being for every child we serve. My family and I cannot wait to make the move to such a compassionate, forward-thinking community.”
