PULSE
Cleveland Clinic News and Notes
Edited by John Soeder
Maria Shriver met with caregivers during a visit to Cleveland Clinic’s main campus in April to announce the Women’s Comprehensive Health and Research Center. | Photo: Lisa DeJong
SPOTLIGHT
Raising the Bar for Women's Health
Cleveland Clinic has announced the launch of its new WOMEN’S COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH AND RESEARCH CENTER. Dedicated to helping women thrive during midlife and beyond, this initiative focuses on four key areas: access; connectivity; education; and research/innovation to empower women to navigate their health journey with confidence and clarity. Maria Shriver, founder of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention and Research Center at Cleveland Clinic, is the Chief Visionary and Strategic Advisor of the new center.
“I’ve always believed our nation needed a first-class comprehensive women’s health center, and now we have one,” Shriver says. “Over the past several years, I’ve been honored to work alongside so many talented and passionate doctors at Cleveland Clinic to bring this vision to life. This is a place where women at every stage of life will feel seen and get the research they need and the care they deserve, from their brains to their bones.”
In her expanded role, Shriver will leverage her expertise and influence to continue the dialogue on women’s health.
“Maria’s unwavering commitment to raising awareness and driving meaningful change aligns perfectly with the mission of our new center,” says Tom Mihaljevic, MD, Cleveland Clinic CEO and President and holder of the Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair. “Her passion for advancing the quality of care for women is remarkable.”
The center brings together care in a number of specialty areas, including behavioral health; breast health; cardiovascular care; infant and maternal health; endocrinology and weight management; menopause; osteoporosis and metabolic bone density; wellness and disease prevention; and healthy aging. In addition, the Women's Alzheimer's Movement Prevention and Research Center will expand to serve patients in Ohio.
Through initiatives focused on streamlining appointment processes, enhancing outreach programs and prioritizing health equity, the Women’s Comprehensive Health and Research Center seeks to ensure that women can readily access the care they need.
A dedicated team of patient navigators will serve as guides offering support, information and advocacy. Through an educational framework, the center also will offer support groups and online resources that help address health disparities, reach diverse communities and bridge gaps in health literacy. Another pillar of the mission is a dedication to advancing research and innovation specific to women during midlife.
QUOTE…UNQUOTE
The Shape of Things to Come
Cleveland Clinic, in partnership with IBM, hosted the CLEVELAND DISCOVERY & INNOVATION FORUM. The invitation-only event in April on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus examined the impact of science and technology on the future of healthcare. Weighing in were international leaders from industry, government and academia, including the following:
Keynote speaker Renee Wegrzyn, PhD, Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)
“I was appointed to launch this agency with a mission to accelerate better health outcomes. … We’re actually looking for impact in the real world to change people’s lives and to do that for everyone.”
Renee Wegrzyn, PhD
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Tom Mihaljevic, MD, Cleveland Clinic CEO and President and holder of the Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair
“Our strategy for the use of AI in healthcare can be described in terms of various buckets. One has AI applications for empowering patients to receive care seamlessly, continuously. Another has AI solutions to make the lives of people who provide care easier. Another has AI applications that help us run our business — which is extremely complex — more efficiently.”
Tom Mihaljevic, MD
• • •
Gary Cohn, Vice Chairman of IBM
“We’ve made a pledge to train 30 million people in AI and quantum computing by 2030 around the world. We need these people. We have a shortage.”
Gary Cohn
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Erwin Gianchandani, PhD, Assistant Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships at the National Science Foundation
“We need to do a better job of meeting people where they are and lifting up folks from all corners of the country. … One of our best assets here in the U.S. is the diversity that we have.”
Erwin Gianchandani, PhD
Charis Eng, MD, PhD | Photo: Lisa DeJong
VISIONARY
Honoring Innovation
CHARIS ENG, MD, PhD, is the winner of the 2024 Sones Innovation Award. The inaugural Chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Genomic Medicine Institute was the first to show that alterations in the cancer-fighting gene PTEN predispose not only to cancer, but also to autism. An expert in genomics-informed precision healthcare and population health, Dr. Eng is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. She holds the Sondra J. and Stephen R. Hardis Endowed Chair in Cancer Genomic Medicine. “To be innovative, you need an innovative hard wiring — geneticists would call it genotype — and it has to be nurtured by your environment,” Dr. Eng said in a 2022 interview with Cleveland Clinic Magazine. The Sones Innovation Award is presented annually to a Cleveland Clinic caregiver for outstanding advances in care. The award is named after the late F. Mason Sones, MD, groundbreaking Cleveland Clinic cardiologist.
Dr.Charis Engis an internationally recognized luminary in precision medicine and personalizedcare who has dedicated her career to the study of genetics and its translation into clinicalpractice.
Choon Hyuck David Kwon, MD, PhD | Photo: Marty Carrick
LEADING EDGE
Sound Saves
Cleveland Clinic has started TREATING LIVER TUMORS WITH HISTOTRIPSY. The technology uses high-intensity ultrasound pulses to kill targeted tumor cells. It was recently approved by the FDA. Choon Hyuck David Kwon, MD, PhD, led a surgical team during the first procedure in December 2023. The patient was being treated for liver metastases from colorectal cancer. To liquefy a small tumor on the patient’s liver, Dr. Kwon used an ultrasound machine connected to a mobile robotic arm, which was positioned above the patient’s abdomen to precisely target the liver tumor. Ultrasound pulses created microbubbles in the tumor, destroying the diseased cells. The patient recovered well. “This treatment is noninvasive, which provides the patient with an easy recovery,” says Dr. Kwon, Director of Minimally Invasive Liver Surgery at Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive Disease Institute. “In addition, studies have shown that in some cases a histotripsy treatment may stimulate the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells.”
Proteins are made of amino acid chains. | Image: Adobe Stock
RESEARCH
Crystal Ball 2.0
Researchers from Cleveland Clinic and IBM have published findings that could lay the groundwork for APPLYING QUANTUM-COMPUTING METHODS TO PROTEIN STRUCTURE PREDICTION. Accurately predicting the structure of a protein can lead to a better understanding of how diseases spread and how to develop effective therapies. Cleveland Clinic postdoctoral fellow Bryan Raubenolt, PhD, and IBM researcher Hakan Doga, PhD, spearheaded a team to discover how quantum computing can improve current methods. Their publication in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation is the first peer-reviewed quantum-computing paper from the Cleveland Clinic/IBM Discovery Accelerator partnership.
Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center | Image: Populous
SPORTS
Calling All Athletes
The Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Clinic and Bedrock Real Estate have unveiled plans for the CLEVELAND CLINIC GLOBAL PEAK PERFORMANCE CENTER. Designed by architectural firm Populus, the 210,000-square-foot facility on the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland will be one of the world’s largest training facilities. In addition to serving the Cavaliers (Cleveland Clinic has been the NBA team’s official healthcare provider since 1993), the center aims to position Cleveland as a sports science and wellness destination, with a focus on enhancing the performance of elite and everyday athletes alike. It will offer access to testing and high-tech training equipment, along with expert professionals from a variety of specialties, including sports medicine, neurology, exercise physiology and cardiology. Groundbreaking is anticipated later this year.