Medical Affairs

The Seattle Children’s Medical Affairs department is comprised of several teams who work together to support the Seattle Childrens Medical Staff. Our services include:

Credentialing
Privileging
Medical Staff Governance and Officer Support
Member Engagement and Integration
Maintenance of Certification (MOC)
Provider Assessment and Clinical Excellence (PACE)
Provider Information Management System
Medical Direction
Credentialed Provider Observerships

The Active Medical Staff at Seattle Children's Hospital is comprised of approximately 2,000 doctors, dentists, and advanced practice providers. They represent all of the pediatric medical and surgical specialties as well as general pediatrics, fetal medicine, and family practice.

Through our formal affiliation with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM), most of our hospital-based physicians hold appointments at the UWSOM and are employed by Children's University Medical Group (CUMG), the Seattle Children's and UWSOM practice plan.

Many Members of our Medical Staff maintain private practices in the community and refer patients to Seattle Children's. Some Community Members round on their patients in the hospital.

Seattle Children's medical departments include Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Child Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Dentistry, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Medicine, Orthopedics; Radiology, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Surgery.

Within the Departments of Medicine and Surgery are divisions representing a full spectrum of subspecialties, which you can explore in the Clinics section of our site.

Medical Staff Leadership

Seattle Children's medical staff leadership includes medical staff officers, department directors, division heads, inpatient services directors, medical education directors, and hospital committee chairs.

Elected Medical Staff Officers

Cora Breuner, MD, Medical Staff President
Ramesh Iyer, MD, Medical Staff President Elect
Sheryl Morelli, MD, Medical Staff Advisor

The officers of the medical staff include the chief medical officer, president, president-elect, immediate past president (when applicable) and the elected medical staff advisor or advisors (the number of which in any given year shall be determined as described in the Medical Staff Bylaws [PDF]).

The officers, excluding the chief medical officer, are elected by vote of the active medical staff and take office effective October 1. Their primary roles are to provide leadership and guidance to the members of the medical staff and promote effective communication among the medical staff, Medical Executive Committee, administration and the board of trustees.

Medical Staff Purpose

The purpose of Seattle Children's medical staff is:

To ensure the delivery of the highest level of quality care to all patients admitted to the hospital or treated in its ambulatory and regional sites consistent with the state of the healing arts and the resources locally available.
To provide that continuous quality improvement and patient safety is a priority for all patients admitted to or treated in the hospital or in its ambulatory and regional sites.
To provide graduate, postgraduate and continuing education that promotes and maintains the highest educational standards.
To support and promote medical research while maintaining and assuring the protection of our human subjects.
To maintain accountability to the board for professional performance, competence and ethical conduct of its members.
To initiate and maintain such rules and regulations and internal organization necessary to allow the medical staff to discharge its responsibility within the hospital in an organized fashion.
To advise the board of trustees and hospital administration on any matters of a medical or medico-administrative nature.

The governance structure, which facilitates this mission, includes the Medical Executive Committee; voting members comprised of at least one-third community providers with the balance representing CUMG and Seattle Children's-employed providers; and numerous quality sub-committees.

Advantages to Membership

Advantages to membership include:

Association with a world-class children's hospital and pediatric training and research programs affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine
Access to a website specifically designed for our medical staff, which includes clinical resources, online Grand Rounds, the physicians directory and other features
Remote access to Seattle Children's Clinical Information System

For information on joining Seattle Children's medical staff, see Apply for Membership.

Professional Standards

Guiding Principles for Medical Staff Quality (PDF)
Guidelines for assuring quality of medical and professional staff members.
Medical Staff Bylaws (PDF)
Bylaws of the medical staff of Seattle Children's.
Medical Staff Professional Standards and Performance Expectations (PDF)
Outlines clinical, personal and behavioral qualities and interpersonal expectations for members of the medical staff.