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Appointment of CEO of Children’s of Mississippi

Oct. 23, 2025

TO:              UMMC Faculty, Staff and Students

FROM:         Dr. Alan Jones, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs

SUBJECT:    Appointment of CEO of Children’s of Mississippi


Mary Taylor 2024I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Mary Taylor, Suzan B. Thames Chair and professor of pediatrics, as chief executive officer of Children’s of Mississippi, effective Nov. 22, 2025. She will retain her leadership of UMMC’s Department of Pediatrics while taking on this new role. 

Dr. Guy Giesecke is leaving the Medical Center to take the role of CEO of Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas.  

Dr. Taylor, who earned her medical degree from UMMC, has worked closely with Dr. Giesecke during his 15 years at UMMC. She has chaired pediatrics since Dec. 1, 2017, the day ground was broken on the seven-story Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi.

In 2011, Dr. Taylor joined UMMC from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, where she established a pediatric cardiac critical care unit. At UMMC, she became co-director of the Children’s of Mississippi congenital heart program and opened the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit. Before becoming chair of the Department of Pediatrics, she served as division chief of both Pediatric Critical Care and Pediatric Cardiology. She also expanded the ECMO program at UMMC to provide support for children and adults with respiratory and cardiac failure. 

We thank Dr. Giesecke for his dedication and accomplishments at Children's of Mississippi and look forward to continued progress and innovation under Dr. Taylor’s leadership. Her clinical expertise, deep institutional knowledge and longstanding commitment to Mississippi’s infants, children and teens position her well to guide Children’s of Mississippi into its next chapter. 

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Taylor on her new role and in extending best wishes to Dr. Giesecke in his next professional endeavor.