PRESS RELEASES

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Abigail Wexner Research Institute selects Harris Search Associates to lead the search for the next Chief Scientific Officer

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Abigail Wexner Research Institute has selected Harris Search Associates to lead the search for the next Chief Scientific Officer

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Abigail Wexner Research Institute has selected Harris Search Associates to lead the search for the next Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

The Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital seeks an experienced pediatric research leader for the position of Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

Reporting to the President of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI),the CSO serves as a member of the Research Institute senior leadership team, with responsibility for oversight of research Centers of Emphasis, including faculty and trainee recruitment, development, and retention, associated space management, as well as operational oversight of key research core resources in support of Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s strategic priorities to further its mission as an academic pediatric health care leader and innovator.

The next CSO will have demonstrated advanced leadership skills in an academic research setting (beyond running their own research lab), a high level of professionalism, and collaborative communications skills. The successful candidate will have experience recruiting, mentoring, and developing basic science/ translational research faculty and trainees of all levels.

The AWRI at Nationwide Children’s is ranked among the top 10 freestanding children’s hospitals based on NIH funding, increasing by 50% over the past 5 years. On a continuing trajectory of rapid growth, the institute’s research expenditures – both internal and external – have grown from roughly $100 million to over $200 million over the last decade. Research conducted by more than 200 principal investigators and over 100 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students has resulted in more than 1,500 publications per year, and the launching of 16 startup companies.

With a new research building opening in 2023, AWRI will encompass more than 850,000 square feet of dedicated pediatric research space across four buildings on the Nationwide Children’s campus. Centralized, on-site resources support center investigators at all stages of their work. Core facilities to support research include Animal Resources (vivarium), Biobehavioral Outcomes, Biopathology and Biobanking, Biostatistics, Clinical Research Services, Gene Editing, Cell and Tissue cGMP manufacturing, Flow Cytometry, Immune Monitoring, Genomic Sequencing, and Computational Services, and Histopathology. Researchers also have access to core resources at The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science. In-house research regulatory affairs staff, an experienced and comprehensive clinical trials infrastructure, and a robust Office of Technology Commercialization ensure that discoveries in the lab are well-resourced for translation into novel diagnostics and therapeutics that can be brought to the clinic and ultimately commercialized into new paradigm-shifting treatments for children. AWRI additionally has an outstanding Office of Sponsored Projects that assists faculty with grant submissions and managing grants and other finances.

Founded in 1892, Nationwide Children’s Hospital has steadily evolved into one of the leading children’s hospitals in the nation. Named as a Top 10 Honor Roll “Best Children’s Hospital” for the past eight years, Nationwide Children’s is one of America’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric health care systems providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitative care for infants, children, and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. In partnership with the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s trains the next generation of pediatricians, pediatric surgeons, pediatric specialists, and research scientists.

Harris Search Associates – an IIC Partners member firm, is a leading global higher education executive search and board advisory consulting firm with 44 offices in 33 countries worldwide. Our higher education executive search practice is focused on identifying and attracting leaders to support the growth of clients in the areas of research, science, engineering, academic medicine, and healthcare enterprises. Clients include the foremost universities, research parks, institutes, academic medical centers, and healthcare organizations driving global innovation and discovery.