Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta CEO Donna Hyland reflects on long career

When Donna Hyland first joined Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta four decades ago, she never imagined how much the pediatric system would grow and evolve.

Hyland first began working for the system in 1986, and she has served as the president and chief executive officer since 2008. During her long tenure as leader of the system, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has expanded to serve far more children and now is among the top recipients of federal research funding among pediatric systems.

Now, Hyland is preparing to step away. She announced her plans to retire in March, and she’ll step down later this year.

“I'm just very proud of everything that Children's has been able to accomplish,” she tells Chief Healthcare Executive®. “I think a lot about how amazing the mission is, how amazing the people are that work here and the impact that they've had.”

In a recent interview, Hyland talked about the evolution of the system, the culture she cherishes, and the organization’s growing impact.

“There's a lot of things going on, certainly in healthcare, but at the end of the day, when you meet the families, you meet the kids, and you see the extraordinary things that our people do for the patients, that's really what has kept me centered all these years and continues to be top of mind for me,” she says.

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Confident in the future

Hyland says she’s less emotional than she expected to be as her long career comes to a close.

“It's really weird, because I thought that I would be much, much more emotional than I am,” Hyland says.

She says part of the reason she isn’t overly emotional, at least not yet, is because she’s so confident in her successor and the pediatric system’s future. Patrick Frias, MD, co-president and CEO of Rady Children’s Health in southern California, has been named the next CEO of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

A cardiologist, Frias previously worked at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for 18 years, eventually becoming chief operating officer. So it’s a bit of a homecoming for him. He’s planning to begin in Atlanta in August.

“He's a fantastic human being, very personable,” Hyland says. “He really cares about people, and that comes across when you meet him. He's a brilliant physician.”

Hyland calls him a good leader who is great at execution, which will serve the system well. But she focuses on his strong people skills.

“He's just such a warm and engaging person, and that is to his core who he is,” Hyland says. “He cares so much about the people that he works with, and I love that so much, because the culture at Children's is one of the things I'm so proud of.”

“It's a culture that's focused on people and making sure that we don't lose that, I think was just one of the things that I was hoping for in my successor, and I have such confidence that he will take us to new heights,” she says.

Hyland doesn’t have a date for her departure, as she plans to stay on and assist with the transition after Frias arrives.

“I'm very much going to move into the background and be there to support him in every way that I can,” she says.

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Expanding impact

While Hyland takes pride in the culture of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, she says she’s pleased to see the pediatric system’s growing impact.

“We have over a million patient visits every year,” she says. “So when you think about how many children have come through the system since I've been blessed to be in this role and the impact that it's had on those kids and healing them, and then being able to go on and live long, productive lives … I mean, that's really what is so inspiring.”

“In this role. I wanted to make sure that any child who came to Children's would get the same kind of care that I would want for my own children,” she says.

Her daughter is expecting her first child, and she says that only deepens those feelings.

“Being a grandmother, I'm probably going to be even more picky about that. And so knowing that Children's is here to give any child that needs it the same kind of care that I would want for my own grandchild … it's an amazing thing to be part of.”

When Hyland first began her job, she says the system’s annual revenues were much more modest.

“We didn't even have enough money to basically pay the bills that we owed at the time,” she recalls. “And so I think about that and how restrictive that was to being able to grow and do what you needed to do, because when you can't even pay the bills, you certainly can't go recruit the best talent. But it was so much smaller.”

Even in those trying early years, Hyland says she found purpose in the organization. She says she was inspired by the doctors and nurses who showed up to offer their very best for kids in need.

“Even from the very beginning, I really got hooked on the mission,” she says.

“And that mission and that purpose has not changed over the 40 years that I've been here,” she adds. “And it's actually now, it's much bigger, but it's kind of that same core of phenomenal doctors and nurses and clinicians and people at work here doing the best they can every day for kids.”

Academic partnership

Under Hyland’s leadership, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta formed an academic partnership with the Emory School of Medicine. Years ago, Hyland says the system didn’t get many research grants.

That’s changed with the partnership with Emory. Now, the system ranks among the top five pediatric systems nationally in grants from the National Institutes of Health.

“That's really just a measure of the quality of the research,” she says. ”So you know, seeing from whence we've come through that measure is certainly exciting, but the core to that is again, the impact.”

She points to progress in helping more children survive and beat cancer.

Cancer survival rates have improved from roughly 60% to more than 80% today, and the survival rates for some cancers has surpassed 90%.

“Being able to provide the resources for our brilliant physicians and PhDs to use what they have and give them the environment to really think big, dream big, and then develop these types of treatments and innovations, it's certainly been a highlight as well,” she says.

When asked about what leaves her filled with satisfaction, Hyland circles back to the culture of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“It’s the people that work here, and the extraordinary, extraordinary work that they do every day,” she says. “And they go above and beyond to take care of the patients and the stories of that are incredibly inspiring, and I'm so thankful that I've been able to be part of it.”

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