Seattle Children’s Hospital recently announced that its board of directors has hired Dr. Christopher Longhurst, chief clinical innovation officer at UC San Diego Health, to serve as its next chief executive officer, effective Jan. 5, 2026.
Longhurst came to San Diego in November 2015, hired by then-interim UCSD Health CEO Patricia Maysent to serve as the organization’s chief medical officer responsible for quality and safety. The university health system has seen its quality scores in annual assessments increase year after year, with the organization earning spots on the coveted honor roll published by U.S. News and World Report for two consecutive years, the first time any adult hospital in the region has made the list.
The executive earned his medical degree from and master’s degree in science and medical informatics from UC Davis, with board certifications in pediatrics and clinical informatics. Prior to his arrival at UCSD, where he started his journey in medicine with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology, Longhurst was chief medical information officer at Stanford Children’s Health.
Maysent cited Longhurst’s accomplishments in a recent letter to UCSD Health staff, noting that he bridged clinical and digital sides of the operation, now serving as the executive director of the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Center for Health Innovation, an organization that has worked to research how advanced digital technology, such as artificial intelligence, can be applied in clinical settings. The university’s recent efforts in using real-time analysis of digital medical records to predict sepsis, a deadly blood infection, in emergency department patients have garnered significant national attention. He was also involved in working with the City of San Diego and the San Diego Padres in early 2021 to create the state’s first mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic.
Longhurst cited the COVID initiative and creation of the Jacobs innovation center as his favorite experiences during nearly a decade at UCSD.
Maysent, in addition to citing the cirtical role of his leadership in helping the university reach the top levels of quality measurement and improvement, cited his ability to bridge clinical and digital domains.
“Dr. Longhurst’s deep understanding of the complex interplay between our academic health system, medical school, and research university has been instrumental in driving strategic innovation across our entire enterprise,” Maysent said. “He has led collaborative teams to implement leading-edge digital strategies to leverage emerging technologies that have improved patient safety, care quality, health equity and satisfaction.”
Originally Published: October 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM PDT