Showrunner Neal Baer Leaving Law & Order: SVU After 11 Years for CBS

Longtime Law & Order: SVU producer Neal Baer has signed a new development deal with CBS and is leaving the NBC drama, Variety reports.

Baer will leave SVU  at the end of this season after 11 years. His new three-year development and production deal with CBS Television Studios takes effect June 1, 2011.

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"After more than a decade on SVU I felt it was time to take a breath and say 'What's next? And those people who were there for me at the very beginning said 'We're next,'" Baer told the trade paper. "I've loved every moment of SVU, and I am deeply grateful to Dick Wolf for giving me the opportunity to work on a such of such depth and profundity."

A former pediatrician, Baer got his start on medical dramas China Beach and ER, which he worked on for seven seasons. He joined Law & Order: SVU in its second season.