As part of a planned leadership transition, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital President and CEO Dr. James Downing announced on Thursday that he will be leaving his position later this year.
Downing will move into a faculty role in the Department of Global Pediatric Medicine, which he helped establish in 2018.
He will stay in his current position while the St. Jude Board of Governors searches for a new CEO.
Downing has served as St. Jude’s president and CEO since 2014 and in a statement, Downing said, “I’ve watched St. Jude transform the care of pediatric cancer around the world, and I’m grateful to have played a small part as its CEO. It has been the honor of a lifetime to wake up every day and know that I have a purpose, to be a part of this workforce, and to change the outlook for children everywhere.”
