Schooled in Generosity
Schooled in Generosity: Health Education Campus Dedication Celebrates Philanthropy
Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic launched a new era of health education on April 9 at the dedication of the centerpiece of their new campus, the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion.
“The dedication of the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion demonstrates the extraordinary value that the spirit of philanthropy brings to new generations of students,” Tom Mihaljevic, MD, Cleveland Clinic CEO, President and Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair said at the event. “The Health Education Campus will have a major impact on advancing medical education and patient care. Its unique curricula and design will inspire healthcare professionals to be members of interdisciplinary teams and promote lifelong learning.”
In front of more than 400 supporters of the two institutions, Bob Rich, outgoing Chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Board of Directors, publicly announced that he and his wife, Mindy, have made a gift to honor the vision and leadership of Toby Cosgrove, MD, former Cleveland Clinic CEO and president.
The significant donation names the Delos M. Cosgrove Courtyard inside the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion. The 80-foot high, 27,000-square-foot atrium is centrally located in the structure designed by London architects Foster + Partners and serves as the heart of the building.
”In making our gift, we believe we found the right way to ensure that Toby’s impact remains a part of Cleveland Clinic for all time,” said Mr. Rich, Chairman of Rich Products Corp. “We saw the excitement on Toby’s face each time he talked about the potential of this education collaboration between Cleveland Clinic and Case Western. We knew from day one that this healthcare education campus was deeply personal and that there was no stopping him in making it happen.”
Samson Gift Supports a New Era in Health Education
The Samson’s transformational gift was publicly announced last year and in his remarks during the ceremony, Mr. Samson said the new Health Education Campus will bring in a new era of teaching. “We have to look to the future, new technology and an updated way of imparting knowledge. The collaboration between Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University will certainly make this campus the best teaching facility available to students.”
In recent years, the two institutions have collaborated to develop shared courses and other experiences in which students from all of the health programs learn the fundamentals of team-based care while also practicing skills together in simulated settings and at actual clinical sites. Those efforts will expand significantly in the new space, as the university and Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine are amid a national search for an academic leader for inter-professional programs.
Interactive Learning in Advanced Facilities
The four-story, 477,000-square-foot building will open this summer to 2,200 students from Case Western Reserve’s dental, nursing, and medical schools, including those from the Lerner College of Medicine. Students from the university’s social work school also will come to the Samson Pavilion for shared coursework, but will continue to take the majority of their classes in their own newly renovated building on Case Western Reserve’s main campus.
The Samson Pavilion expressly encourages interaction, surrounded on all sides by each floor’s open walkways and a wide staircase at every corner. It also features a dedicated shared space for students from all programs to study and relax. This shared learning will benefit from the Samson Pavilion’s extensive technology features, as well.
Among the leading-edge examples are:
- Two distinct digital anatomy programs, one using mixed reality, and the other virtual;
- Simulation programs for flight nursing and ultrasound training;
- Visualization tables that allow students to see anatomic structures in precise detail and explore clinical cases with classmates; and
- Large LED wireless touch screens in classrooms that allow students to interact with high-resolution images and easily participate in videoconferences from around the world.
“We are developing augmented and virtual reality to allow students to learn, comprehend, and understand the nuances of both normal human anatomy and disease states in a totally different manner than traditional cadaveric dissection allows,” Dr. Mihaljevic says.
Across the street from the Samson Pavilion is the second building of the Health Education Campus, a three-story, 132,000-square-foot dental clinic. The university’s existing dental clinic is about half the size and exceptionally difficult to find within a collection of taller buildings on the university’s main campus. Even so, it welcomes about 19,000 patients a year.
Students engage in Cleveland and its surrounding communities through outreach programs like the Student-Run Health Clinic, dental sealants and health screenings in city schools, and care for the homeless. These and other new activities now will be housed on the first floor of the Samson Pavilion, including the Stefanski Family Center for Community Health Education, made possible by a $5 million commitment from the Third Federal Foundation and the Marc A. and Rhonda L. Stefanski Foundation.
The first floor also will include a conference center featuring a 7,000-square-foot auditorium and 4,800-square-foot lecture hall where students from all programs will gather for inter-professional lessons, featured speakers and demonstrations. The conference center is part of an $8 million commitment to the campus from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.
In 2012, the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation and Cleveland Foundation each made $10 million lead gifts for what was then a Case Western Reserve medical education building project. After the university and Cleveland Clinic later announced their partnership, leaders of both foundations enthusiastically agreed to move their commitments to the new project.
Case Western Reserve and Cleveland Clinic have equally shared fundraising throughout the project, and supporters have responded with exceptional generosity. To date, the two institutions together have raised nearly $275 million for the $515 million project, and active joint fundraising continues.
Gift Establishes Scholarships at Lerner School for Autism
A diagnosis of autism can leave families reeling, unsure of what steps to take to get the best care for their child – not to mention the challenges of unexpected educational costs.
To address this need, the Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. family has made a significant gift to establish the DeBartolo Family Autism Scholarships at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Lerner School for Autism, creating a lasting fund to assist families in need.
“We are surrounded by friends whose children or grandchildren have been impacted by autism,” Mr. DeBartolo says. “Our family is honored to play a role in helping other families gain access to education and treatment that can significantly and positively impact their children’s futures.”
Cynthia R. Johnson, PhD, Director of Cleveland Clinic Children’s Center for Autism, says the DeBartolo family's legacy gift is tremendously important. “This extraordinarily generous gift will allow families impacted by autism to obtain intensive educational and therapeutic services at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Center for Autism when the financial burden would otherwise prevent access,” she says. “We greatly appreciate this opportunity.”
A National Leader in Autism Treatment
The leading-edge autism facilities at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Center for Autism are dedicated to the treatment, education and research for children, adolescents, young adults and families dealing with autism spectrum disorders. Individual programs are developed for each child, depending on his or her needs. The main facility is uniquely integrated within the Cleveland Clinic healthcare system and housed in the Debra Ann November Wing at Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation Campus.
The Lerner School for Autism is the centerpiece of the 20,000-square-foot Debra Ann November Wing and is a chartered, non-public day school certified by the state of Ohio. The school serves students from age of earliest diagnosis through age 21 and consists of four divisions (preschool, primary, intermediate, and secondary) divided by the age of the student. The Lerner School provides a full-day, year-round intensive program utilizing the science of Applied Behavior Analysis, a science that uses behavioral techniques to teach children basic and complex skills.
How You Can Help
Every gift, no matter the amount, helps us advance our mission. Discover how your support can help transform healthcare at Cleveland Clinic Children’s.
Lionel Richie Honored at 23rd Annual Power of Love® Gala
Keep Memory Alive’s 23rd annual Power of Love® Gala, held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 16, 2019, honored music legend Lionel Richie for his impactful musical contributions and his support of Keep Memory Alive. The star-studded event generated the majority of annual revenue for Cleveland Clinic Nevada to provide service, care and resources for patients and their caregivers in the fight against cognitive diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, multiple system atrophy, frontotemporal dementia and related disorders, multiple sclerosis and more.
Lonnie Ali, wife of late great Muhammad Ali, was presented with the Keep Memory Alive Caregiver Hero award. Celebrities including Shania Twain, Snoop Dogg, Anthony Anderson, NE-YO, Anthony Mackie, Miguel, Leona Lewis, and Bernie Williams entertained the crowd with tributes and performances of Richie’s songs.
In addition to enjoying the finest cuisine prepared by superstar chefs Wolfgang Puck and Daniel Humm, guests bid on one-of-a-kind experiences during the event’s signature live and silent auctions, including items such as private dinners with Diane Keaton, Bon Jovi or in London with Sir Michael Caine, a week sailing the Mediterranean on a super-yacht, a private tennis lesson with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, and a mini champagne vending machine.
New Institute Leadership Announced
Cleveland Clinic recently announced the appointment of Beri Ridgeway, MD, as chair of its Ob/Gyn & Women's Health Institute and Bartolome Burguera, MD, PhD, as its new Chair of the Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute.
Dr. Ridgeway will oversee more than 415 caregivers, including ultrasound technicians, embryologists, nurse practitioners and nurses, and 148 staff physicians who comprise the Ob/Gyn & Women’s Health Institute. Cleveland Clinic has an extensive midwifery program and a wide range of specialties, including minimally invasive surgical techniques, treatments for infertility, menstrual disorders, general gynecologic care to complex oncology surgery for gynecologic malignancies, and pelvic floor disorders, menopause and more.
In June 2018, Dr. Ridgeway was appointed interim institute chair following the departure of Tommaso Falcone, MD, who was department chair since 2001 and institute chair since 2009. Dr. Falcone left Cleveland in September 2018 to become Chief of Staff, Chief Academic Officer and Medical Director at Cleveland Clinic London.
“I am honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of Drs. Falcone, Belinson, Ballard, and Krieger as an OB-GYN chair at Cleveland Clinic,” Dr. Ridgeway said. “I look forward to working with our caregivers to continue to provide the best medical care to our patients.”
Cleveland Clinic’s Ob/Gyn & Women’s Health Institute is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report, as the top-ranked program in Ohio and ranked No. 5 nationally in its “2018-19 Best Hospitals” rankings.
In his new role as Chair of the Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute, Dr. Burguera will lead one of the largest endocrinology practices in the world, with 40 endocrinologists, five endocrine surgeons and more than 20 nurse practitioners who specialize in endocrinology.
“I am honored to assume this role, and very excited about what the future holds for the Endocrinology & Metabolism Institute,” Dr. Burguera says. “We have worked together to develop subspecialty clinics and centers in the areas of pituitary, adrenal, thyroid, diabetes, obesity, gonadal dysfunction and calcium metabolism. When patients come to visit our endocrinology and metabolism team at Cleveland Clinic, we make sure we fully address their medical concerns.”
Dr. Burguera joined Cleveland Clinic as a staff physician and Director of Obesity programs in 2013. He then received a staff joint appointment in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine in 2018. Additionally, Dr. Burguera is a Professor of Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. His clinical and academic interests are focused on the field of obesity, particularly the role of bariatric medicine and non-surgical weight loss interventions for obesity and diabetes.
What a Sugar Rush!
National Autism Awareness Month
The blue and white cookies flew off the shelves at Panera Bread stores earlier this month. Thanks to a generous and creative promotion by Covelli Enterprises, nearly 40,000 cookies were sold at their Panera Bread stores across Northeast Ohio with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting Cleveland Clinic Children’s Center for Autism.
The promotion, called Pieces of Hope after the puzzle piece motif atop each sugar cookie, began at Covelli Enterprises in 2012 and, to date, has raised more than $500,000 for Cleveland Clinic Children’s Center for Autism. The funds benefit the Center’s scholarship program, research and behavioral treatment program to improve social and communication skills in autistic children and young adults.
This year’s promotion saw a 12 percent increase in cookie purchases from last year.
How You Can Help
Every gift, no matter the amount, helps us advance our mission. Discover how your support can help transform healthcare for our littlest heroes at Cleveland Clinic Children’s.
