Vanderbilt University Medical Center today tapped Kevin B. Churchwell to be interim chief executive officer at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital.

Dr. Churchwell will assume the post at the beginning of next year upon the departure of current CEO Jim Shmerling. Shmerling is to become president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colo.

Churchwell, a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, is chief of staff at the facility and has been on the faculty at Vanderbilt since 1995. VUMC is searching for a permanent CEO for the hospital.

Also at the Children's Hospital, Shari Barkin has been made chief of General Pediatrics. Dr. Barkin, whose research focuses primarily in the areas of parenting strategies to improve children's health, violence prevention, injury prevention and obesity prevention, was previously an associate professor of Pedatrics at Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest University's Brenner Children's Hospital.

She will replace Rebecca Swan, who stepped into the role on an interim basis when Gerald Hickson left the post in 2003 to become the director of VUMC's Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy.