Dr. Hossain Marandi knew his calling from a young age.
He was a sick child growing up, spending lots of time in doctors’ offices and children’s hospitals. His first mentor was his uncle, who also happened to be his next-door neighbor and pediatrician.
“So I knew very early on that I wanted to be a pediatrician, and I wanted to be able to give back by caring for kids who were kind of like me, who were sick and needed that support,” he said.
Dr. Marandi was born in Iran and lived there until
age 11, when in 1979, he and his family escaped the country during the Iranian Revolution. “My parents wanted to make sure that myself and my younger sister had the ability to be able to live our lives the way we chose to live, the faith we wanted to be and who we wanted to be, and that was not going to be possible in that environment,” he said.
Through a series of connections, the family found their way to Madrid, Spain, landing in a residence that happened to be next door to a large Catholic Church. His younger sister, Mary, befriended one of the sisters who lived at the parish.
“When Sister Mary heard about our plight, about leaving and wanting to come to the United States to better our lives, the Catholic Church sponsored my family to come to the United States as refugees,” Dr. Marandi said. “That one moment of grace in time from the Catholic Church completely changed the trajectory of my life and my family’s life. And since that moment, I have spent the rest of my career giving back to the Catholic Church, making sure that what they invested in, they get returned.”
Last June, Dr. Marandi stepped into his new role as president of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and system vice president of SSM Health Pediatric Service Line. A pediatrician, he has served for most of his career in clinical and leadership roles in Catholic medical systems.
“Joining an organization that had the same values that I did, and being in a community like St. Louis that has such a foundational belief in Catholicism and has been a big part of the DNA of this community — to be able to come to that and be able to serve that community, it was too good to pass up,” he said. “At Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, we live the mission of the Catholic Church daily, serving our community with unwavering dedication, devotion and gratitude.”
Dr. Marandi oversees the operational and clinical activities of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and creates and leads the strategic direction of all pediatric services within the SSM Health System. The most important value that drives his work: humility.
“I think the ability to be humble and understand that it’s something you’re serving beyond yourself — that’s the day-to-day drive, knowing that I’m doing something that’s not for me, that I am an extension of God to be here, to be able to provide the service, that really helps me continue to do the work that I do,” he said.
The sanctity of life is also at the forefront, he said; and on a simpler level, “it’s unbelievable for us to have the opportunity to start every meeting, every discussion with a prayer or reflection, grounding ourselves into the understanding that we’re here for something much bigger than ourselves.”
As he’s gotten to know the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital community, he’s been impressed by the mission-driven mindset of the physicians, nurses and staff, he said.
“People understand why they’re here and what they need to do to care for this community,” he said. “As I walk the halls, I meet people that have been here 25, 30, 35 years — a lifetime of care, part of Cardinal Glennon. You don’t do that just because it’s a job. It’s because you have a deep devotion to this work and to this organization and this community to do that.”
The announcement ofthe construction of a new Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospitalcame just a few months after Dr. Marandi began. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to build a children’s hospital from the ground up and to be able to be part of something that really is going to foundationally change pediatric care,” he said. “When we talk about caring for our communities, we’re here on the location that we are because we know the most amount of need is here.”
When he looks back on where he started, “I always joked that when you talk about the poster child for the American dream, I’m it,” he said. From arriving in a small town in eastern Tennessee, starting seventh grade without speaking any English, to achieving his dream of becoming a doctor and later leading children’s hospitals, he’s thankful for all the ways God’s grace has been manifested in the kindness and generosity of communities along the way.
And he doesn’t take for granted that he gets to play a role in continuing God’s work in St. Louis through the ministry of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.
“Leading a nationally ranked children’s hospital is a privilege beyond measure, and I am blessed to live my calling every day,” he said.
