Dr. Mark Shen will join St. Louis Children’s Hospital on November 12
St. Louis (October 24, 2018) – In April, BJC HealthCare announced that Joan Magruder would transition from her role as president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital and into an expanded BJC group president position. At that time, a national search began and recently concluded with the hiring of Mark W. Shen, MD, MBA, as the hospital’s new president. Dr. Shen’s first day at Children’s will be November 12, where he will spend the next six weeks partnering one-on-one with Magruder to ensure an optimal transition through the end of 2018.
“Dr. Shen is looking forward to returning full-time to his passion of pediatrics,” says Magruder. “Mark is truly a ‘Guardian of Childhood’ who lives our mission to do what’s right for kids. I’m excited for his arrival in November, and for his leadership as we advance the quality of, and access to pediatric health care in our community and in our region.”
Dr. Shen has been with Ascension Health, Inc. since 2007 and has served in multiple leadership roles, including president, Dell Children’s Medical Center/Dell Children’s Health from 2013 to 2017. In that role, he led strategic, clinical and operational integration across the pediatric enterprise and oversaw philanthropic, brand, academic and advocacy priorities for pediatrics across Ascension Texas.
Since 2017, Dr. Shen has served as chief executive officer for the Ascension Texas Accountable Care Network and senior vice president of network development at Ascension Texas. In those roles, he initiated and developed statewide partnerships across the pediatric and adult systems, and built a network of more than 2,700 providers covering 170,000 people across central Texas. Dr. Shen also served as the interim chair of pediatrics at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas.
Dr. Shen holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California; a medical degree from University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas; and a master’s degree in business administration from McCombs School of Business - The University of Texas at Austin.
“I don’t think there are many other pediatric institutions that can offer everything that St. Louis Children’s has to offer in the country,” said Dr. Shen. “From my perspective as a pediatrician and somebody who has always had a passion for advocating for what’s best for kids, this was a relatively easy choice for me.”
In Magruder’s new, expanded role within BJC, she will oversee Alton Memorial, Barnes-Jewish St. Peters and Progress West, BJC Behavioral Health, BJC Corporate Health and BJC Home Care, BJC Strategic Planning, Christian Hospital, Memorial Hospital Belleville and Memorial Hospital East, Missouri Baptist Medical Center and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Prior to becoming president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital in 2013, Magruder was president of Missouri Baptist Medical Center for seven years. She originally joined BJC HealthCare in 2000 as vice president of business development, physician services and alternate care sites, which included responsibility for BJC Strategic Planning, BJC Medical Group, BJC Behavioral Health, BJC Home Care Services and BJC Corporate Health Services. Magruder came to BJC after serving as the administrator of the department of surgery, outpatient services, transplantation and the physician group practice at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. She began her career with The Devereux Foundation Center for Head Trauma, and later established and led a for-profit rehabilitation center in Pennsylvania for adults with traumatic brain injury.
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ST. LOUIS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
For more than 130 years, St. Louis Children's Hospital has provided exceptional care for children in all 50 states and 80 countries around the world. With its academic partner, Washington University School of Medicine, Children’s is consistently ranked among the nation’s best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. A member of BJC HealthCare, St. Louis Children’s Hospital follows one simple mission – to do what’s right for kids. That mission comes to life through medical discovery, innovative therapies and compassionate care. In 2018, Children's expanded with a state-of-the-art, 12-story medical tower. Children’s relies on generous donors to deliver specialized care for families in need, extend health care services to the community, and pursue research that promises to transform pediatric medicine. To find out more, visit StLouisChildrens.org, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
BJC HEALTHCARE
BJC HealthCare is one of the largest nonprofit health care organizations in the United States, delivering services to residents primarily in the greater St. Louis, southern Illinois and mid-Missouri regions. Serving the health care needs of urban, suburban and rural communities, BJC includes 15 hospitals and multiple health service organizations. Services include inpatient and outpatient care, primary care, community health and wellness, workplace health, home health, community mental health, rehabilitation, long-term care and hospice. BJC’s nationally recognized academic hospitals, Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, are affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine.
