Donald Kearns, MD, serves as Vice Chair of Sanford Burnham Prebys Board of Trustees, and has served on the board since 2020.
He is president emeritus of Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, having previously served as president and CEO from 2013 to 2018. Rady Children’s is a 551-bed pediatric care facility providing the largest source of comprehensive pediatric medical services in San Diego, southern Riverside and Imperial counties. It is the region’s only designated pediatric trauma center and was ranked in 2023 by U.S. News & World Report among the top 10 pediatric health care systems in the nation.
Before becoming president and CEO at Rady, Kearns held numerous physician leadership roles, including chair of the Department of Surgery, surgeon-in-chief and chief medical officer. Kearns joined the hospital in 1987 and practiced as a pediatric otolaryngologist.
He earned his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine and completed residency in otolaryngology head and neck surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, with a subsequent fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) in London, England.
He has a Master of Medical Management degree from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.