Top Moments
2020s
Pandemic Brings Radical Change
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world in 2020, Cleveland Clinic was well-prepared with beds, equipment and personnel. Extensive efforts were undertaken to ensure there were no lapses in patient care, and Cleveland Clinic researchers also participated in dozens of COVID-19 related studies and authored hundreds of publications. As its peers furloughed caregivers, Cleveland Clinic remained committed to preserving jobs.
Lara Jehi, MD, is named Chief Research Information Officer, a newly created position to advance biomedical research throughout Cleveland Clinic.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clears 3D-printed patient-specific airway stents developed by Cleveland Clinic physician Tom Gildea, MD.
Cleveland Clinic is named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the 10th time.
Matthew Kull is named Chief Information Officer.
Among the first academic medical centers to offer COVID-19 testing
Led by Brian Rubin, MD, PhD, Chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Institute (PLMI), Cleveland Clinic developed its own diagnostic test for COVID-19. As a result, Cleveland Clinic was one of the first academic medical centers in the U.S. to offer COVID-19 diagnostic testing to potentially infected patients. Technicians in PLMI labs worked around the clock to process tests, eventually reaching a peak of 5,000 per day, with results available within 13-15 hours.
Cleveland Clinic leaders in Ohio and Florida collaborate with state and local government and public health agencies to ensure that patients would be adequately cared for in the event of a COVD-19 surge. Leading this effort was Robert Wyllie, MD, Chief Medical Operations Officer.
Prepared for a COVID-19 surge
When its models indicated that a potential local surge of COVID-19 infection might overwhelm hospital capacity in the area, Cleveland Clinic converted its Health Education Campus (which it shares with Case Western Reserve University) into a temporary surge hospital. Thanks to aggressive public health measures, the surge hospital was not needed and it was decommissioned in June 2020.
Caregivers come to the aid of hospitals
Teams of Cleveland Clinic doctors and nurses had volunteered to travel to harder-hit areas, including New York City, Detroit and Abu Dhabi, to help care for patients in hospitals overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cleveland Clinic establishes the Global Center for Pathogen Research and Human Health.
Chief Clinical Transformation Officer James Merlino, MD, launches a series of playbooks with information on how various industries might resume operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Merlino's team produces nearly 20 playbooks for businesses, churches, schools and community organizations.
Kelly Hancock, DNP, is named Chief Caregiver Officer. This is the first position of its kind at Cleveland Clinic and was created to align all aspects of caregiver engagement with a focus on enhancing the organization's unique team-based culture.
Leslie Jurecko, MD, MBA, is named Chief Safety and Quality Officer.
Cleveland Clinic Florida opens the Cleveland Clinic Florida Research and Innovation Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health awards a grant to Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health to establish the Nevada exploratory Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (NVeADRC).
Cleveland Clinic is named Health Security Advisor to the Commission on Presidential Debates, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that sponsors general election debates. As a result of this relationship, Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University are asked to host the first presidential debate of the 2020 election at their shared Health Education Campus.
Connor Delaney, MD, PhD, succeeds Wael Barsoum, MD, as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Florida region.
As one of 10 “pre-positioned” vaccine sites in Ohio, Cleveland Clinic was among the earliest hospitals to administer the first vaccines for COVID-19 authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.
Beri Ridgeway, MD, succeeds Herbert Wiedemann, MD, as Chief of Staff in 2021.
Donald Malone, Jr., MD, succeeds Edmund Sabanegh, MD, as President of Cleveland Clinic main campus and regional hospitals in 2021.
