Cleveland Clinic

The Cleveland Clinic (formally known as the Cleveland Clinic Foundation) is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The Cleveland Clinic is currently regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S. News & World Report. The Cleveland Clinic was established in 1921 by four physicians for the purpose of providing patient care, research, and medical education in an ideal medical setting. One of the largest private medical centers in the world, the Cleveland Clinic saw more than 3,200,000 patient visits in 2009, with almost 80,000 hospital admissions. Patients arrive at the Cleveland Clinic from all 50 states and more than 100 nations. The Cleveland Clinic's approximately 2,500 staff physicians and residents represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. The Cleveland Clinic was ranked number one in America for cardiac care from 1994 to 2009.

Cleveland Clinic is also an Ohio nonprofit corporation which as of December 2010 had 10 regional hospitals in Northeast Ohio, a hospital and family health center in Florida, and a health center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a specialty center in Las Vegas, and a hospital in Abu Dhabi opening in 2012.

History
The Cleveland Clinic was founded in February 1921 by four renowned Cleveland physicians. Three of the founders, George Washington Crile, Frank Bunts, and William Lower, were surgeons who had worked together in an army medical unit in France during World War I.

Upon their return to the United States, they desired to establish a group practice and invited an internist, John Phillips, to join in their endeavor. The concept of group practice in medicine was relatively new at the time. Only the Mayo Clinic and military units were known to follow this model. The founders established the Clinic with the vision: “Better care of the sick, investigation of their problems, and further education of those who serve.” Dr. Crile was a surgeon of national prominence and attracted patients from around the country, especially for his expertise in thyroid surgery. The Clinic saw rapid growth in its early years but suffered a major setback in 1929 that almost closed its doors permanently. On May 15, 1929, a fire started in the basement of the hospital caused by nitrocellulose x-ray film that spontaneously ignited. The fire claimed 125 lives, including that of one of the founders, Dr. Phillips. Following this fire and the subsequent Great Depression, the Cleveland Clinic regained momentum and eventually obtained national recognition especially in cardiovascular disease. In the decades since World War II, the Clinic has grown to become internationally prominent and is currently the second-largest medical group practice in the world, after the Mayo Clinic.

Research
The Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute is home to all laboratory-based, translational and clinical research at Cleveland Clinic, having total annual research expenditures exceeding $258 million from the National Institutes of Health and other funding sources in 2008. With more than 1,300 residents and fellows, the Cleveland Clinic’s graduate medical education program is one of the largest in the country. A new medical school, the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, was opened in 2004. The program's curriculum was devised by Cleveland Clinic staff physicians to train and mentor a new generation of physician-investigators.

Reputation
The Cleveland Clinic was ranked as the fourth best hospital in America for complex and demanding situations according to the 2010 U.S. News & World Report America's Best Hospitals report and ranked number one for cardiac care for 15 years in a row. The urology, gastroenterology, and rheumatology departments were ranked second best in the country. The Clinic's Glickman Urological Institute has the largest full-time urology faculty in the United States.

Altogether, fifteen specialties at the Cleveland Clinic were ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in 2010: heart (cardiology) and cardiac surgery (#1); digestive disorders (gastroenterology) (#2); urology (#2); rheumatology (#2); orthopedic surgery (#4); nephrology (#3); respiratory disorders (pulmonology) (#3); neurology and neurosurgery (#6); endocrinology (#6); gynaecology (#4); ophthalmology (#10); otolaryngology (#8); cancer (oncology) (#9); geriatrics (#10); and psychiatry (#22).

In 2007, Steven Nissen, MD, Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world (Time 100) by Time.

Cleveland Clinic is known for its technological efficiency, and was described by Newsweek as "a hospital trying to be a Toyota factory", and when Newsweek contacted a dozen hospitals for data on cancer patient outcomes, Cleveland Clinic was the only one which could provide its own data in detail and open to the public.

Medical firsts
The Cleveland Clinic has been the site of numerous medical firsts, including:
 * synthesis of angiotensin II (involved in high blood pressure)
 * isolation of serotonin (involved in depression) by Dr. Irvine Page
 * development of "no-touch" colorectal surgery
 * promotion of conservative surgery for breast cancer in America
 * invention of "washing-machine artificial kidney" dialysis machine
 * first coronary angiography by F. Mason Sones in 1958
 * first coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) by René Favaloro in 1967
 * first minimally invasive aortic valve surgery
 * first successful larynx transplant
 * discovery of first gene linked to juvenile macular degeneration
 * discovery of first gene linked to familial coronary artery disease
 * first percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)
 * identification of carpal tunnel syndrome
 * use of sodium nitroprusside in the clinical setting (for hypertension)
 * first mitral valve repair and Maze procedure in the same operation
 * first endovascular tricuspid valve implant
 * first face transplant in the U.S. performed by a team led by Maria Siemionow
 * first completed transvaginal Nephrectomy in 2009

Campus and location
The main campus of the Cleveland Clinic consists of 41 buildings on more than 140 acre near University Circle, in the Fairfax Neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Clinic operates 12 family health and ambulatory surgery centers in surrounding communities, a multispecialty hospital Weston, Florida, and an outpatient clinic in Toronto, Ontario.

The Cleveland Clinic serves its community through ten northeast Ohio hospitals plus affiliates:


 * Main Campus
 * Euclid Hospital
 * Fairview Hospital
 * Hillcrest Hospital
 * Huron Hospital
 * Lakewood Hospital
 * Lutheran Hospital, a 204-bed acute care facility
 * Marymount Hospital
 * Medina Hospital
 * South Pointe Hospital

Ashtabula County Medical Center (ACMC) is one of the affiliates of the Cleveland Clinic. The Cleveland Clinic has a children's hospital located within the main campus and at its Shaker Campus. On October 23, 2008, the Clinic opened a new facility to house its number-one-ranked heart center, building the Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute and the Glickman Urological Institute, in the Glickman Tower and the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Pavilion. In addition, a 4,000-space parking garage for staff and visitors was also built.

Future growth
To help ensure its growth, the Cleveland Clinic announced in 2006 a historic 5-year philanthropic campaign to raise $1.25 billion. The Clinic is also looking to expand its presence to other locations in the United States as well abroad. In September 2006, the Clinic announced plans to operate a world-class specialty hospital in Abu Dhabi, UAE, to be built and owned by the UAE government. This facility is scheduled to open late in 2012. The current CEO and President of the Clinic, Delos M. "Toby" Cosgrove, M.D., recently indicated plans to expand into other markets abroad including Austria and Singapore,

Economic development
The Cleveland Clinic is heavily involved in efforts to expand Cleveland's economy and produce growth for the region. The Clinic is the largest private employer in northeast Ohio, and the third largest in the state of Ohio, with over 36,000 employees all over the United States and revenues exceeding $4.4 billion annually. At $2.7 billion, the Clinic's endowment rivals those of top American universities. In addition to its clinical facilities and research institute, the Clinic operates a startup incubator known as CCF Innovations. CCF Innovations is charged with commercializing Clinic research and creating successful startup companies with such research. In addition to CCF Innovations, the Cleveland Clinic was awarded the State of Ohio's first "Wright Mega-Center for Innovation" award, totalling $60 million, to build a Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. This center, funded as part of the state's "Third Frontier" program to generate economic growth for the state, will be charged with generating companies, jobs, and economic growth for the region based on the Clinic's expertise in heart disease. The clinic has provided funding to bring the HealthCorps program to Cleveland in an effort to combat teen obesity and improve the general health of local teens. The Economist magazine has reported on the hospital's impact on Cleveland.

In August 2011, Becker's Hospital Review listed the Cleveland Clinc as number two on the 100 Top Grossing Hospitals in America with $9.14 billion in gross revenue.

Notable patients
The Cleveland Clinic has treated many famous patients. Some of these include:


 * William Randolph Hearst, media magnate
 * LeBron James, NBA player
 * Bob Dole, former presidential candidate and Senate leader, treated by Doctor Kenneth Ouriel
 * Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister
 * Khalid of Saudi Arabia, monarch
 * Charles, Prince of Wales
 * Hussein of Jordan, monarch
 * Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of UAE
 * Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait
 * Jack Nicklaus, renowned pro golfer
 * Andrew Magee, golfer
 * Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
 * Don King, boxing promoter
 * Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea
 * João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, President of Brazil
 * Royal families of Nepal and Bhutan
 * Albert Sabin, M.D., developer of the oral polio vaccine
 * Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, Egyptian coptic pope
 * Malcolm Glazer, Manchester United and Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner


 * Liza Minnelli, Oscar-winning performer
 * Evander Holyfield, professional boxer
 * Scott Hamilton, 1984 Olympic Gold Medal figure skater
 * Bill Parcells, NFL coaching great
 * Vinny Testaverde, NFL star quarterback
 * Jon Corzine, former New Jersey Governor and former Goldman Sachs CEO
 * Bob Taft, former Governor of Ohio
 * Rick Pitino, famous basketball coach who led three different teams to the Final Four
 * Jerry Falwell, TV evangelist and founder of the Moral Majority and Liberty University
 * Bob Evans, founder of Bob Evans Restaurants
 * Teppo Numminen, member of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres (surgery performed in 2006 and 2007)
 * Robin Williams, actor and comedian
 * Andrei Markov, NHL player
 * Oprah Winfrey, television host
 * Joost van der Westhuizen, former South Africa rugby union international