After 35 years working in the same children’s health system — including 29 at the helm — Kimberly Chavalas Cripe “can’t wait” to meet her successor. Whenever that might be.
Ms. Cripe arrived at Orange, Calif.-based Children’s Hospital of Orange County in 1991 and took over as president and CEO in 1997. In 2025, CHOC merged with Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego to form Rady Children’s Health, an organization she co-led with Patrick Frias, MD, until March 2026, when he departed to lead Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Ms. Cripe has since been Rady Children’s sole president and CEO.
She plans to transition to an emeritus role once a new CEO has been hired and fully onboarded, the health system told Becker’s. Ms. Cripe said a national search is under way.
“I would describe leadership to someone stepping into this role as really being all about stewardship,” she said. “This person is going to inherit something that generations of people have worked incredibly hard to build, and their responsibility will be to leave it even stronger for the people who come next.”
She recently joined the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast” to discuss why she expects the 2025 merger to benefit children beyond Southern California, why funding parity should be top of mind for her peers, and the benefits of disagreements in the C-suite.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What would you consider your most memorable day or period from your career?
Kimberly Chavalas Cripe: When I first joined Children’s Hospital of Orange County, which is known as CHOC, back in 1991, it was a very different organization. What attracted me to pediatric healthcare at that time was having an opportunity to build something really special for children and families, and over the years, I’ve had the privilege of watching that vision grow dramatically — things like expanding our facilities and our geographic reach, developing highly specialized clinical programs, and strengthening our research and innovation activities. Throughout the years, there have been many areas where there just weren’t enough options for children or access to needed care. Most recently, mental health would be an example of that.
So when you ask me my most memorable period, I would have to say this period, because back in 2025 we brought together what was Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego to create Rady Children’s Health. When I look back, what stands out most to me is how much has changed over the years in healthcare and in our organization. It’s not just the size of the organization; by coming together through this merger — we call it a merger of equals — we’re able to do so much more for children and families in our region. Each of these hospitals had really rich, long histories of serving their communities.
Q: Whenever you decide you’re moving on from your career, what are you going to tell your successor?
KC: I’ve spent a bit of time thinking about this, and I can’t wait to meet my successor and welcome him or her into this role. I would describe leadership to someone stepping into this role as really being all about stewardship. This person is going to inherit something that generations of people have worked incredibly hard to build, and their responsibility will be to leave it even stronger for the people who come next.
What do I mean by that, and how should someone think about it? One thing I’ve really come to appreciate over the years is how important it is to stay close to the people who are actually doing the work. Sometimes in the C-suite we can get a little bit removed or isolated. It’s easy to spend all day on Zoom meetings or in board meetings, but it’s important to listen to your physicians, your nurses and all your employees, and to really listen carefully to what your patients and their families are telling you.
I would also encourage that person to surround themselves with people who will tell them what they need to hear, and not simply what they think you want to hear — or, even worse, only what they want you to hear. Healthcare is so darn complex now, and it’s changing so quickly. For any one leader to believe they have all the answers would be a huge watch-out for me.
You’re stewarding an incredible organization. You’ll be making a lot of decisions, and there will be pressure that comes with this role 24/7. For me, I always come back to the mission of the organization, and that is all about what’s best for children and their families. As long as I’ve stayed anchored in the mission and in our values — that we’re defenders of childhood — it’s a reminder that that’s our calling and our responsibility.
Q: When you look at Rady and CHOC and where you’ve been in your career for the last 30 or so years, is there an accomplishment or accomplishments that stand out to you, and why?
KC: Boy, as I think back over the years, there are so many things I could mention, but I think the one I’m most proud of is the fact that we were able to bring CHOC and Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego together to create Rady Children’s Health. I say that because both organizations had really long, rich histories of serving their communities. They had amazing cultures and deep connections to their communities, but by bringing them together, we’re able to create something even better. We know together we’re going to be able to do even more for the children and families across Southern California, and we’re actually thinking more broadly.
That’s really the promise of the merger: bringing together the strengths, the expertise and the resources of two extraordinary pediatric organizations so that we can expand access. I think about the difference it’ll make in highly specialized care. I think we’re going to be even more successful attracting and retaining talent. I’m excited about what we’re going to be doing in research, discovery and innovation, and all of that is going to allow us, as a merged entity, to face some of the most significant challenges facing children today.
I’ll give you an example. Both regions had really robust mental health and behavioral health programs for their communities, but we were coming at it from different perspectives and with different approaches. It’s so exciting as a CEO to watch our teams come together, share best practices and scale those areas, because pediatric mental health has been a need for a long time, but it’s only within the last five or 10 years that we’re really taking it seriously and starting to scale these programs. It’s things like that that I’m just incredibly proud of having been some small part of.
The other thing I’ll mention, for folks who have gone through mergers or acquisitions: It is not for the faint of heart. There are so many systems — benefits for HR, EHR conversions, ERP — it just goes on and on. I’m also really proud of our team, and I’m proud of our boards, because we’ve hit some bumps in the road along the way, but people are staying focused on the mission and staying true to what we’re creating.
Q: When you look at the whole merger process, is there anything that made it a little bit easier?
KC: What’s made this possible, and what’s making it work well, is the fact that these were two organizations that had almost mirror images of their mission, their vision and their values. That said, there are over 16,000 people working in this health system, and there’s a heck of a lot that could go well or not well. So I think it’s the anchor in the mission, coupled with the timing. We’re at a time when we’re looking for better ways to deliver healthcare — certainly in pediatric healthcare, but also as a country. People are motivated to redesign the healthcare delivery system and to look at things like financial sustainability and access for patients.
The other thing that’s really made this feasible is how well the governing boards from each of the — I’ll call them legacy organizations — have come together, how well they work together and how respectful they are of one another. We’ve been very fortunate that we haven’t had the tensions that you sometimes hear about or experience when you’re trying to do something like this.
Q: Is there an issue or aspect of healthcare that deserves a bit of a brighter spotlight right now? And who should be shining that spotlight?
KC: I’d like to see children’s health have a much brighter spotlight in the national healthcare conversation, and I’d like to see it truly become a much greater national priority.
If I could wave a wand, I would say we need to look seriously at funding parity — at whether our healthcare system is investing in children at a level that reflects their unique needs, and that recognizes that if we intervene early — whether that means treating complex medical conditions, addressing mental and behavioral health needs, improving access to preventive care or helping families overcome barriers to care — we truly have an opportunity to change the trajectory of a child’s life. My call to action would be for policymakers, healthcare leaders and communities, who all play a role in this, to step up. I think children deserve more than we’re giving them at this point.
Q: Reflecting on your experience at CHOC and at Rady, what have you found to be an underrated leadership trait, and who have you seen embody it?
KC: Humility is an underrated leadership trait. The higher up you go in an organization, the easier it becomes for people to assume that you have all the answers. And the danger, frankly, is when you actually start believing that yourself. I wish I could say I’ve never seen that happen, but I have from time to time.
The best leaders I’ve worked with are confident enough to surround themselves with people who know even more than they do. They ask questions, they listen, they’re willing to say out loud, “I don’t know,” and when someone has a better idea, they’re willing to change course or change the decisions they’re making. Healthcare is simply too complex for any one person to have all the answers. Some of the most important decisions I’ve made throughout my career have been far better because I had people around me who were willing to challenge my thinking, disagree or point out better ways.
If I think about people I’ve seen embody humility, I go right away to our clinicians: our physicians, our nurses, our employees. We have board members and I work with fellow leaders who really model that kind of humility. They can be highly accomplished in their own lives and careers, but they’ve remained curious and open, and they’re willing to learn from others.
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