Overview
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association represents a constituency of physicians and scientists throughout the world who reflect a commitment to excellence.
Those eligible for membership in the Association include:
- Individuals who trained for a minimum of one (1) year at a Cleveland Clinic training facility through any one of the clinical or research Graduate Medical Education (“GME”) accredited programs.
- Medical students from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (“CCLCM”).
- PhD students who have completed their degree at Cleveland Clinic, through one of our partner universities (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, Kent State University and the University of Akron).
- Professional staff who hold these positions, but who trained outside Cleveland Clinic, are also eligible for membership in the Association if they have served Cleveland Clinic for a period of three (3) years.
Our Mission
Cleveland Clinic is committed to serving as a resource to its Alumni by providing access to information and programmatic support necessary to ensure their professional growth and success. The goal of these efforts is to bolster the bond between the institution and its Alumni, and to create an atmosphere that encourages a commitment among Alumni to offer support and to participate in the life of the institution.
Board of Directors
The Board is the governing authority of the Association, responsible for overseeing its operations and directing its affairs. All actions of the Board, or its committees, shall comply with the Association’s bylaws. Your Alumni Specialty Directors, specific to the area you trained in, want to keep in touch with you. Your elected specialty director meets with the Board of Directors twice a year and can serve as a valuable resource.
If you are an alum interested in serving on the Alumni Board, please complete the Alumni Association Board of Directors Application / Nomination Form. For your thoughtful consideration, a description of the Executive Committee roles can be viewed here, and the Specialty Director positions here.
Executive Committee
Richard S. Lang, MD, MPH
President
Training: IM'82
Leo J. Pozuelo, MD
President Elect
Training: P/P’97
John George III, MD
Vice President of Communications
Training: AN'08, AN/REG’10
Alice Kim, MD
Vice President of Membership
Training: IM/PD’01, ID’03
Susan J. Rehm, MD
Medical Director, Staff & Alumni Relations
Training: IM’81, ID’83
Dale R. Shepard, MD, PhD
Immediate Past President
Training: IM'06, H/O'09
Alumni Specialty Directors
John George III, MD
Anesthesiology
Training: AN'08, AN/REG’10
Karen Jacobs, DO
Behavioral Health
Training: P’92
Samuel Omotoye, MD
Cardiovascular disease
Training: CARD/E ’15
F. Scott Ross, MD
CCF Florida Staff Representative
Training: IM’13
Hardeep Phull, MD
CCLCM Representative
Training: CCLCM'11
Eric Weiss, MD
Colorectal Surgery
Training: CRS’94
Paul Benedetto,MD
Dermatology
Training: IM ’09, D ’12, MSDO ’13
Tamara J. Worlton, MD, FACS
Endocrinology
Training: S/ALB’10
John Vargo, MD
Gastroenterology
Training: GE ’09
Trang Nguyen, MD
General Surgery
Training: S’17
William S. Tierney, MD
Head and Neck
Training: OTO’18
Amar Gupta, MD
Imaging/Radiology
Training: DR ’18, ABI ’21
L. Tricia Bravo, MD
Infectious Disease
Training: IM’06, ID’08
Leonardo Oliveira, MD (IM ’10, PC/SM)
Internal Medicine
Training: IM ’10, PC/SM’11
Dianne Sandy, MD
Kidney Medicine
Training: IM ’95, H/N ’98
Jason Hsieh, MD
Neurological Surgery
Training: CCLCM ’16, NS ’18
Andreas Alexopoulos, MD, MPH
Neurology
Training: CLNPHY’03, IN’04
Amy Park, MD
Obstetrics & Gynecology & Women's Health
Training: UG/PS ’09
Andrew Vassil, MD
Oncology
Training: IM'06, RO’10
Sumit Sharma, MD
Ophthalmology
Training: CCLCM'09, OPH'13
Ryan Goodwin, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery
Training: S’99, ORS’03
Christine N. Booth, MD
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Training: ACLPTH ’02
Gina M. Robinson, MD, FAAP
Pediatrics
Training: PD’98
Peter Kreymerman, MD, FACS
Plastic Surgery
Training: S’06, PL/RS’08
Justin D. Lathia, PhD
Research
Training: RES/SCB’09
Mani Kavuru, MD
Respiratory
Training: IM’87, PULMCC’89
Adam Brown, MD
Rheumatologic and Immunologic Disease
Training: RH’16, VSCL’17
Richard Kaplon, MD
Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery
Training: TS'99
Karin E. Brown, MD
Urology
Training: S’10, U’15
George Anton, MD
Vascular Surgery
Training: S’ 83, VS’84
History
Your Alumni Association, Yesterday and Today
Cleveland Clinic’s founders made clear their desire to keep in touch with their alumni. Reflecting on the institution's first certificate ceremony, held on June 23, 1923, founder George W. Crile, MD, expressed the following sentiment:
“We would like you to know the permanent staff and Board of Directors feel a great interest in your welfare and we shall follow you as far as possible with our interest and hope you will always remember this is an institution that is a home to which you may always return.”
The Alumni Association today carries on that same interest.
Cleveland Clinic's fundamental obligation is to keep alumni connected to the organization and to one another. In addition, the association today:
- Assists the medical professional through the promotion of continuing medical education classes, many at an alumni discounted rate
- Highlights alumni medical achievements, innovations and award-winners
- Honors the physician-scientist graduates of Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine
- Develops a philanthropic interest among alumni to meet the health organization’s varied needs, be they buildings, equipment or people
Beyond Reunions
The Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association began much like those of many other medical organizations, existing mostly to host reunions and receptions where its doctors could catch up with one other and speak of their lives inside and outside the medical profession. The occasions were fun, the smiles were many, but the relative importance of these events was often hard to measure.
White Mansion, Home of the
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association
Over time, the work of a dedicated, curious and engaged alumni staff and alumni base has grown ever more valuable. Communication, education, information have become the benchmarks of a vibrant alumni association in this fast-paced, digital world.
Today’s Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association also:
- Acts as a strong ambassador to attract talent to the organization
- Networks with alumni around the globe to both keep lines of communication open and to facilitate the best possible patient treatment
- Funds internal programs of special interest to Cleveland Clinic
- Offers a modern web site, complete with information of use to physicians, such as registration for conferences and linking to Cleveland Clinic’s own prestigious Journal of Medicine
- Brings prominent Cleveland Clinic physicians, and others, before its Board of Directors to hear presentations on current matters of interest, many of which bear directly on physicians’ own patients and practices
- Reports on those presentations – and other news – through its routinely produced newsletter, Alumni Connection
- Holds events across the world to bring alumni in other countries up to date on what’s going on back home
- Sends representatives to important medical conferences, such as one held recently in the Middle East, to learn about new medical techniques and equipment
Welcome Home
It is all about a renewed effort within the Alumni Association to be of greater service to its more than 22,000 members world-wide and to be of greater relevance to Cleveland Clinic overall.
The association knows it must be attentive and responsive to the needs of its members and continually look for new ways to be of service to them. It is that goal to which it is dedicated. And, just as alumni may receive help, they will go on to offer help to others, including their patients, their peers and their own Cleveland Clinic.
To paraphrase Dr. Crile: We always wish you success, we continue to follow you with interest, and we still hope you consider Cleveland Clinic to be your professional home.
Alumni Association Nomination
If you are an alum interested in serving on the Alumni Board, please complete the Alumni Association Board of Directions Application Nomination Form
