Walker-Harding accepts offer to return to Seattle Children’s Hospital
Dr. Leslie Walker-Harding, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and medical director at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, has accepted an offer to return to Seattle as chair of pediatrics and associate dean for the University of Washington and senior vice president and chief academic officer for Seattle Children’s Hospital. She will begin her new role in Seattle on Feb. 15.
Dr. Sarah Iriana, associate professor of pediatrics, will serve as interim chair of pediatrics. She will begin working shoulder-to-shoulder with Walker-Harding immediately and will be full-time in that role by Jan. 1.
“Dr. Walker-Harding was an important voice in the design of the Children’s Hospital expansion that is currently underway,” said Dr. Craig Hillemeier, dean, CEO and senior vice president for health affairs. “She reorganized the Department of Pediatrics to put in place vice chairs who are leading this growing department and successfully recruited strong division chiefs and faculty. She also increased the diversity of the residency program.”
Iriana earned her medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. She has worked as a general pediatrician in the Elizabethtown and Hershey practice sites of Penn State Health Medical Group and was appointed associate division chief of academic general pediatrics in 2013.
After serving as the practice site medical director at General Pediatrics at 35 Hope Drive in Hershey for several years, Ariana became an associate chief medical officer in 2015. She currently oversees operations in pediatrics, dermatology, and obstetrics and gynecology.
“Dr. Iriana is a gifted leader, and I’m confident she will continue to advance our missions across the Department of Pediatrics,” Hillemeier said.
A national search for the chair of the Department of Pediatrics will be launched in the near future.
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