Cleveland Clinic

# Overview
Cleveland Clinic (formally known as the Cleveland Clinic Foundation) is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.  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, Cleveland Clinic saw more than 2,900,000  patient visits in 2005, with 53,000 hospital admissions.  Patients arrive at Cleveland Clinic from all 50 states and more than 100 nations.  Cleveland Clinics approximately 1,700 salaried staff physicians represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties.

# 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 123 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.

# Research
Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute is the fifth largest research institute in the country, having total annual research expenditures exceeding $220 million from the National Institutes of Health and other funding sources.  With approximately 1,100 residents and fellows, the Clinics graduate medical education program is the third largest in the country.  A new medical school, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, was opened in 2004.  The programs curriculum has been devised by Cleveland Clinic staff physicians to train and mentor a new generation of physician-investigators.

# Rankings and achievements
Cleveland Clinic is ranked among the four leading hospitals in America (U.S. News & World Report, 2007).  The Cleveland Clinic has ranked number one in America for cardiac care for 13 years in a row. The urology and gastroenterology services are ranked among the two best in the nation. The Clinic's Glickman Urological Institute has the largest full-time urology faculty in the United States.
Altogether, 13 specialties at the Cleveland were ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in 2007: heart and heart surgery(#1), digestive disorders (#2), urology (#2), orthopedics (#4), rheumatology (#4); respiratory disorders (#5), kidney disease (#5), neurology and neurosurgery (#6), endocrinology (#6), gynecology (#7), ear nose and throat (#9); geriatrics (#9), ophthalmology (#12), cancer (#17); psychiatry (#19), and rehabilitation (#20).
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.

# Medical firsts
Cleveland Clinic has been the site of numerous medical firsts.  These include:
- isolation of angiotensin (involved in high blood pressure)
- isolation of serotonin (involved in depression) by Dr. Irvine Page
- development of no-touch colorectal surgery
- pioneering of conservative surgery for breast cancer
- invention of washing-machine artificial kidney dialysis machine
- first coronary catheterization by Mason Sones in 1958
- first coronary bypass surgery (CABG) by Rene 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 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

# Campus and location
The main campus of Cleveland Clinic consists of 41 buildings on more than 140 acres near University Circle, in the Fairfax Neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.  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 .  Cleveland Clinic serves its community through nine northeast Ohio hospitals plus affiliates.  These are: Main Campus, Euclid Hospital, Fairview Hospital, Hillcrest Hospital, Huron Hospital, Lakewood Hospital, Lutheran Hospital, Marymount Hospital, and South Pointe Hospital.
The Cleveland Clinic has a Children's Hospital located within the main campus and at its Shaker Campus.

# Future growth
The Clinic is currently building a state-of-the-art heart center to house its number-one ranked heart program in one building.  Additionally, the Clinic is building a new home for its urological institute, in addition to a 4,000 space parking garage for staff and visitors. 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 build and operate a world-class specialty hospital in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This facility is scheduled to open in 2010 .  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
Cleveland Clinic is heavily involved in efforts to expand Cleveland's long-stalled economy and produce growth for the region. The Clinic is the largest private employer in northeast Ohio, and the second largest in the state of Ohio, with over 36,000 employees 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.

# Notable visitors
The Cleveland Clinic has treated many famous patients from around the world.  Some of these include:
- Media magnate William Randolph Hearst 
- NBA superstar LeBron James
- NFL player Kellen Winslow II
- Bob Dole, former presidential candidate and Senate leader 
- Former Italian Prime Minister and billionaire Silvio Berlusconi 
- King Khalid of Saudi Arabia 
- Prince Charles, Prince of Wales 
- King Hussein of Jordan  
- UAE President Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan 
- Leader of Kuwait, Emir Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah 
- Golfer Jack Nicklaus
- Golfer Andrew Magee 
- President Heidar Aliev of Azerbaijan 
- Boxing promoter Don King 
- President Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea 
- President Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo of Brazil 
- Royal families of Nepal and Bhutan 
- Dr. Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine 
- Coptic Pope Shenouda III (Gayyid) of Alexandria 
- Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer 
- Oscar-winning performer Liza Minnelli  
- Evander Holyfield, professional boxer 
- Alfred Lerner, billionaire founder of MBNA and philanthropist
- Scott Hamilton, 1984 Olympic Gold Medal figure skater 
- Bill Parcells, NFL coaching great 
- NFL star quarterback Vinny Testaverde 
- Mary Pickford, Academy Award-winning actress and United Artists co-founder
- American actress J. Madison Wright
- New Jersey Governor and former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine 
- Former Ohio Governor Bob Taft 
- Rick Pitino, famous basketball coach who lead three different teams to the Final Four 
- Former MLB player Albert Belle, the first to hit 50 doubles and 50 home runs in a single season
- Reverend Jerry Falwell, TV evangelist and founder of the Moral Majority and Liberty University
- Talk show host Oprah Winfrey
- NBA superstar Zydrunas Ilgauskas
- Robert Evans, Bob Evans restaurant and sausage company founder 
- Teppo Numminen NHL of the Buffalo Sabres. Surgery performed in 2006 and 2007.