James E. Shmerling
James E. Shmerling
James E. Shmerling

James E. Shmerling, a longtime hospital executive, will become president and CEO of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford next month, the hospital announced Thursday.

Shmerling, a Nashville native, has spent seven years leading Children’s Hospital, Colorado, and previously served as CEO of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He also held leadership roles at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.

“We look forward to having Jim’s experience and expertise propel us further toward our vision to make Connecticut’s children the healthiest in the country,” Robert M. Le Blanc, a member of the hospital’s board and chairman of the search committee, said in a statement.

Shmerling will replace Martin J. Gavin, who is retiring after running the hospital for nine years.

Connecticut Children’s is the state’s only freestanding children’s hospital. It runs the neonatal intensive care unit at UConn’s John Dempsey Hospital, as well as the pediatrics program for both Waterbury hospitals, based at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Arielle Levin Becker covered health care for The Connecticut Mirror. She previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter, and has also covered small towns, courts and education in Connecticut and New Jersey. She was a finalist in 2009 for the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists, a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the third-place winner in 2013 for an in-depth piece on caregivers from the National Association of Health Journalists. She is a 2004 graduate of Yale University.

Leave a comment