In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet famously ponders: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.” True enough—but the names we apply to things can also have an important, symbolic impact.

That is what happened last month in St. Petersburg, Florida. All Children’s Hospital, a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine was renamed Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

This change provides important affirmation that Johns Hopkins All Children’s—which also celebrated its 90th birthday last month—has fully integrated into Johns Hopkins Medicine as our third academic medical center.

The change was proposed by the hospital’s 26-member board of directors. Jonathan Ellen, president of Johns Hopkins All Children’s, said the directors thought the 259-bed medical and research center was “ready” to be recognized as a Johns Hopkins institution. The new name should help recruit even more first-class faculty members and raise funds needed to advance the already impressive changes that the hospital has undergone in the five years since it joined Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Since the integration process began in 2011, the common goals we share have paved the way for the impact that our combined resources are having on modernizing pediatric medicine, advancing the training of pediatric specialists, and fostering leading-edge research and technology.

In this short half-decade, we have collaborated closely to make significant progress on all of these goals. For example:

• We established four specialized institutes focused on cardiac care; cancer and blood disorders; maternal-fetal and neonatal care; and an Institute for Brain Protection Sciences, enhancing the collaboration between our pediatric neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuro-oncologists and related specialists.
• We broke ground on a new research and education building that will promote discoveries and new treatments for childhood diseases.
• We established an innovative residency program for training future pediatricians.
• We enhanced our focus on quality, safety and outcomes standards.
• Our scientists are engaged in research trials to identify biomarkers that will help us understand the origins of chronic and acute diseases of childhood.
• We opened an accredited biorepository that provides state-of-the-art storage and processing of clinical and research specimens to aid in these studies.
• We expanded All Children’s network for collaborative care in west central Florida.

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital has embraced these developments enthusiastically. The spirit of collaboration we share enables us to work together to push the boundaries toward more innovative clinical services, scientific discovery and enhanced family-centered care—all to benefit children in Florida and around the world.

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the dedication and commitment of the Johns Hopkins All Children’s staff and physicians. They provide hope, superb care and healthier futures for all children.

As we move forward, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital will continue to reimagine and redefine what excellence in care and research truly mean to the children and families we serve. So what’s in a new name? It means a wonderful hospital is poised to become even better.