Seattle Children's Medical Staff

The active medical staff at Seattle Children's Hospital is comprised of over 1,200 physicians and other providers. They represent all of the pediatric medical and surgical specialties – general pediatrics as well as family practice.

Approximately 600 of the members of the medical staff are based at Seattle Children's. Through our formal affiliation with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM), most of our hospital-based physicians hold appointments at the UWSOM and are employed by Children's University Medical Group (CUMG), the Seattle Children's and UWSOM practice plan.

Most members of our medical staff are physicians and other providers who maintain private practices in the community and who refer patients to Seattle Children's; some actively care for and attend on their own patients in the hospital.

Seattle Children's medical staff departments include Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine; Child Psychiatry and Behavioral Health; Dentistry; Laboratory Medicine and Pathology; Medicine; Orthopedics; Radiology; Rehabilitation Medicine; and Surgery.

Within the Departments of Medicine and Surgery are divisions representing a full spectrum of subspecialties, which you can explore in the Clinics section of our site.

Medical Staff Leadership

Seattle Children's medical staff leadership includes medical staff officers; department directors; division and clinic chiefs; inpatient services directors; medical education directors; and coordinators and medical staff and hospital committee chairs.

Elected Medical Staff Officers

  • Cora Breuner, MD - Medical Staff President
  • Ramesh Iyer, MD - Medical Staff President Elect
  • Sheryl Morelli, MD - Medical Staff Advisor

The officers of the medical staff include the chief medical officer, president, president-elect, immediate past president (when applicable) and the elected medical staff advisor or advisors (the number of which in any given year shall be determined as described in the Medical Staff Bylaws [PDF]).

The officers, excluding the chief medical officer, are elected by vote of the active medical staff and take office effective October 1. Their primary roles are to provide leadership and guidance to the members of the medical staff and promote effective communication among the medical staff, Medical Executive Committee, administration and the board of trustees.

Medical Staff Purpose

The purpose of Seattle Children's medical staff is:

  • To ensure the delivery of the highest level of quality care to all patients admitted to the hospital or treated in its ambulatory and regional sites consistent with the state of the healing arts and the resources locally available.
  • To provide that continuous quality improvement and patient safety is a priority for all patients admitted to or treated in the hospital or in its ambulatory and regional sites.
  • To provide graduate, postgraduate and continuing education that promotes and maintains the highest educational standards.
  • To support and promote medical research while maintaining and assuring the protection of our human subjects.
  • To maintain accountability to the board for professional performance, competence and ethical conduct of its members.
  • To initiate and maintain such rules and regulations and internal organization necessary to allow the medical staff to discharge its responsibility within the hospital in an organized fashion.
  • To advise the board of trustees and hospital administration on any matters of a medical or medico-administrative nature.

The governance structure, which facilitates this mission, includes the Medical Executive Committee; voting members comprised of at least one-third community providers with the balance representing CUMG and Seattle Children's-employed providers; and numerous quality sub-committees.

Advantages to Membership

Advantages to membership include:

  • Association with a world-class children's hospital and pediatric training and research programs affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine.
  • Access to a website specifically designed for our medical staff, which includes clinical resources, online Grand Rounds, the physicians directory and other features.
  • Remote access to Seattle Children's Clinical Information System.

For information on joining Seattle Children's medical staff, see Apply for Membership.

Professional Standards