Rady Children’s Health co-CEO to take job in Atlanta – San Diego Union-Tribune

It is back to Atlanta for Dr. Patrick Frias, co-chief executive officer of Rady Children’s Health.

Rady, which completed a merger with Children’s Hospital of Orange County in early 2025 under Frias’ leadership, announced Thursday that the executive accepted a job as the new CEO of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Frias, a cardiologist and electrophysiologist, was the chief operating officer of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta when Rady lured him to San Diego in 2018 to replace retiring CEO Dr. Donald Kearns.

With Frias’ departure, co-CEO Kimberly Chavalas Cripe will serve as the organization’s sole president. Cripe was the chief executive of Children’s Hospital of Orange County, becoming co-CEO with Frias after the merger.

It is the opposite of the result that was anticipated during the merger. The previously shared plan was for the two executives to run their respective operations for two years with Chavalas Cripe retiring after a 30-year career, leaving Frias as sole CEO.

Through a spokesperson, Frias declined to discuss his tenure at Rady or his reasons for heading back to Atlanta instead of sticking with the succession plan that the CHOC merger put in place.

But he did express his feelings on the matter more deeply in a memo to all staff, deeming the decision “bittersweet.”

“This was not an easy decision,” Frias wrote. “Ultimately, it was guided by my desire to be closer to my family and return to my home state.”

Frias also said that Rady will “begin a thoughtful national search for a future leader with the experience and passion to build on our progress.”

Cripe, a hospital spokesperson said, still intends to retire.

S. Doug Hutcheson, chair of Rady’s board of directors, bid Frias farewell.

“I’ve had the honor of experiencing first-hand the transformational changes Patrick has made during his time in San Diego at Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center,” Hutcheson said. “Over the past year, Patrick’s and Kim’s vision, strategic acumen and unwavering commitment to our mission have shaped the future of pediatric healthcare across Southern California and improved the lives of thousands of children in our region.

“We wish him continued success in this next chapter of his remarkable career.

In its own statement, Atlanta children’s referenced Frias’ 18 years of experience “as a cardiologist, chief physician officer and chief operating officer,” as the reasons why it offered its former executive a round-trip ticket.

Frias departs at a fragile moment for Rady Children’s. Caring for an estimated 800,000 children in Southern California, a patient volume that puts it among the largest providers of pediatric care in the nation, Rady has found itself targeted by the Trump administration due to its gender-affirming care program.

On Jan. 20, Rady severely curtailed the program, stopping surgeries and prescriptions but continuing counseling and other mental health care services, citing nationwide threats to end all federal reimbursement.

That move spurred an immediate backlash, first from affected patients and their families who staged a protest in front of Rady’s San Diego medical campus, then through a lawsuit by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who obtained a temporary restraining order that forced Rady to resume all gender care, save surgeries.

Gender care strife notwithstanding, Frias’ tenure at Rady has been positive.

For three years running, Rady has been named among the nation’s 10 best children’s hospitals by U.S. News and World Report, a designation that ranks medical providers in specialty care such as cardiology, endocrinology and orthopedics.

In 2023, Rady broke ground on a seven-story medical tower, estimated to cost between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion, replacing aging structures on its main Serra Mesa campus. 

Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, chief executive of the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, cited this project, as well as completion of the merger with CHOC, as defining accomplishments.

“Patrick was a dynamic leader who started two of the most ambitious long-term projects in the hospital’s history,” Kingsmore said in an email Thursday evening.

Rady has also maintained an ongoing collaboration with UC San Diego. Most of its physicians have dual appointments on the university’s medical faculty, making it easier to undertake research studies. The organization lists 17 areas of inquiry and 200 active clinical trials on its website, ranging from allergy to urology.

Today, Rady Children’s Health, including operations in Orange County, has more than 13,000 employees and more than 2,000 physicians on its medical staff.

Frias mentioned many of these accomplishments in his final message to staff, crediting the organization’s successes to all of its employees.

“I am deeply grateful for all we have accomplished together and for the relationships built along the way,” Frias wrote. “I leave here a better leader because of you, and I will always carry forward lessons and friendships from this chapter.”