Kevin B. Churchwell, M.D., is the chief executive officer and executive director of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. As CEO, he is responsible for the hospital's day-to-day operations, financial performance, development, advocacy, community relations and strategic planning.

He served as interim CEO from January-July 2007. Churchwell served as chief of staff; medical director of Pediatric Critical Care Services; transport director for Children's Hospital; medical director of the Children's Health and Injury Prevention Program; and director of the Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Program.

He was inducted into the Nashville Public Schools Hall of Fame by the Nashville Alliance for Public Education in 2009. In 2008, Churchwell was named one of the top 25 minority health care executives by Modern Healthcare magazine. He was also recognized as one of Nashville Business Journal's 2008 Health Care Heroes and the same year was also honored as one of Nashville's Fathers of the Year by the Nashville chapter of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Churchwell is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. and Vanderbilt University Medical School. He completed his Pediatric Residency at Children's Hospital in Boston, and was Junior Assistant Resident and Senior Resident in Medicine at Children's Hospital. He also completed his Clinical Fellowship in Anesthesia and Pediatric Critical Care at Children's Hospital in Boston. Churchwell returned to Vanderbilt in 1995 to join the faculty as an assistant professor of Pediatric Critical Care and Anesthesia.

Born and raised in East Nashville, Churchwell is a member of a well-known Nashville family, many of whom have ties to Vanderbilt. His father, Robert, was the first African-American reporter for a major southern metropolitan newspaper, the Nashville Banner. His mother, Mary, taught for 30 years in the Nashville public school system. He has four siblings -- his twin, Keith Churchwell, M.D., and brother Andre Churchwell, M.D., are both Vanderbilt cardiologists; Robert Jr. is an assistant principal at Gra-Mar Middle School in Nashville; and Marisa Churchwell Smith is a special education teacher in Augusta, Ga. He is married to Gloria Respress-Churchwell and they have four children: Katherine, Alexandria, Arthur and John.