Chairs of Pediatrics
Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Mary Leonard, MD, MSCE
Professor of Pediatrics (Nephrology) and of Medicine (Nephrology)
Adalyn Jay Physician-in-Chief, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Director, Child Health Research Institute
Mary Leonard, MD, MSCE, is chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Adalyn Jay Physician in Chief at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. She assumed these positions on July 1, 2016.
Energetic and collaborative, Dr. Leonard is a compassionate clinician and researcher who cares deeply about improving the health and well-being of children everywhere. A graduate of the Stanford University School of Medicine, Mary returned to Stanford Medicine in 2014 after spending 25 years at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. At Stanford, her multi-disciplinary research program is focused on the impact of chronic diseases on bone metabolism and nutrition across the life span. Mary directs the innovative and trans-disciplinary child and maternal health research and training initiatives of the Stanford Child Health Research Institute.
Mary is a distinguished investigator, an expert clinician, and a respected mentor who embodies the academic and integrated mission of Stanford Medicine. A member of the Precision Health Committee, she is committed to Stanford Medicine’s vision of proactive and personalized health care and has been at the forefront of efforts to integrate Precision Health approaches and skills into our training programs.
Past Chairs of Pediatrics
There have been seven Chairs of Pediatrics at Stanford University. These individuals simultaneously have held the positions of Chair of Pediatrics and physician leader at the related hospital. Currently, Dr. Mary Leonard serves as the Physician-in-Chief at the LPCHS. In 2009, the SoM and the LPCHS signed a Memorandum of Understanding which established the Stanford Children's Health Research Institute (CHRI). The Chair of Pediatrics/Physician-in-Chief serves as its Director.
Past Chairs of Pediatrics
Dr. Harvey Cohen was the Chair during the Children’s Health Initiative, and he recruited many new leaders and faculty to greatly expand the Department’s academic and clinical programs. Dr. O’Brodovich continued this momentum after his arrival in January 2008. Since that time, and with the critical support of the LPCHS and SSoM the faculty grew by 62%.
As a result of the hard work of the faculty, the external research funding more than doubled, the residency program has become ranked amongst the very best in the Western USA and the number of fellows nearly doubled. The successful negotiation of a “Funds Flow” agreement with the LPCHS combined with a new compensation plan has placed the Department on a strong financial position with annual revenues approaching $200 million. The current status of the department, combined with the School’s vision for “Leading the BioMedical Revolution”, LPCHS’ Phase II, the expansion of Stanford Childrens’ Health and the evolution of the CHRI provides a strong base upon which the new Chair can continue to build the Department’s clinical and academic programs.