endocrinology, gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, oncology, and geriatrics. Important work done at the clinic includes the isolation of serotonin, the first coronary angiography, the first coronary artery bypass surgery, the first larynx transplant, the identification of carpal tunnel syndrome, the first face transplant in the United States, and the first pregnancy brought to term after conceiving through the single-sperm freezing technique. Today, the Cleveland Clinic consists of 141 buildings, as well as 10 northeast Ohio hospitals and affiliates in Florida and Las Vegas.
In 2014, a Cleveland Clinic team successfully harvested stem cells from the tissue discarded during hip replacement surgeries (tissue that must be removed to accommodate the metal and plastic hip). These stem cells, from the periosteum (a soft tissue on the surface of the bone), are markedly different from bone marrow stem cells but less feasible to harvest except under conditions like this. Periosteum-derived stem cells have proven to be useful in regrowing bone and cartilage tissue.
The Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute performs the laboratory, translational, and clinical research at the Cleveland Clinic. Its research is divided among a number of departments: Biomedical Engineering, Cancer Biology, Cell Biology, the Genomic Medicine Institute, Immunology, Molecular Cardiology, Molecular Genetics and Virology, Neurosciences, Ophthalmic Research, Pathobiology, Quantitative Health Sciences, Translational Hematology and Oncology, and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. The institute employs more than 1,300 people, including 200 principal investigators with their own laboratory space. The Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine pursues research with the goal of developing therapies for diseases that result from abnormal cellular function or tissue destruction, and to provide replacement cells to repair damaged tissues and restore functionality. Adult stem cell research focuses on musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular diseases, leukemia, neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes.
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university in Cleveland, which was established in 1967 when the Case Institute of Technology and the Western Reserve University merged. Today it is one of the top-ranked undergraduate programs, with 2,400 faculty members, about 4,300 undergraduate students, and about 5,500 graduate and postgraduate students. In addition to its medical school, it is well known for its biomedical engineering department. In 1905, at Western Reserve, George Crile performed the first modern blood transfusion. The first heart-lung machine used during open heart surgery was also developed at one of the predecessor institutions, as was the first successful defibrillation of the human heart, and in 1997, Case Western researchers developed the first artificial human chromosomes. Case Western in general and the School of Medicine specifically have a tremendous impact on the Cleveland economy, with the School of Medicine and its affiliates accounting for 65,000 jobs in Ohio in 2007.
Case Western’s School of Medicine is one of the top medical schools in the country and the largest biomedical research center in Ohio. There are three degree paths: the University Program, at Case Western; the College Program, at the Cleveland Clinic; and the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), a competitive MD/PhD program supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Case Western is one of only 43 schools in the country to offer the program, and in fact the medical scientist training program nationwide is based on the MD/PhD dual-degree program Western Reserve instituted in 1956.
Originally the Medical Department of Western Reserve College or the Cleveland Medical College, the School of Medicine was founded in 1843, and its early students included the second and third women in the United States to receive medical degrees (Nancy Talbot Clarke and Emily Blackwell). In addition to the Medical Scientist Training Program, it offers dual-degree programs in MD/DMD (Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental Medicine); MD/MPH (Master of Public Health); MD/MBA (Master of Business Administration); MD/MA (Master of Arts) in Bioethics, MD/MS (Master of Science) in Applied Anatomy, in Biomedical Investigation, and in Biomedical Engineering; and MD/MA and MD/PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in Anthropology.
The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine is a partnership between the clinic and Case Western and constitutes the “college” option for Case Western School of Medicine students. The Lerner College of Medicine trains students to be physician investigators, integrating clinical medicine and research with basic science. All students receive a full tuition scholarship, and the Lerner five-year program includes a thesis requirement. There are no grades or class rankings: the learning environment is noncompetitive and student centered, with a basic science curriculum centered around organ systems and linked to clinical experience, and a program designed to help students develop their research interests and professional goals.
A typical second-year curriculum, for example, consists of a nine-week clinical research block on biostatistics and clinical epidemiology, followed by science courses of two to six weeks each in various specialized topics (i.e., hematology or the gastrointestinal system), followed by a six-week study period before the next year begins. By working alongside physicians at the Cleveland Clinic, students have access to an extraordinary range of patients and clinical experiences, one unmatched by almost any training facility. The Lerner College of Medicine was established in 2002, and beginning in 2008, the clinic has provided full academic tuition scholarships for all students.
The Cleveland Clinic and Case Western founded the National Center for Regenerative Medicine in 2004, coordinating regenerative medical research for the institutions as well as providing a home for the Clinical Tissue Engineering Center, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, and the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. The Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine specializes in both basic and clinical research dealing with stem cell therapies and related research and operates a stem cell bank with a wide variety of stem cell lines. Since its inception, it has spun off four companies and received $33 million in funding from Ohio.
Bill Kte’pi
Independent Scholar
See Also: Baylor University; Columbia University; Duke University; Johns Hopkins University; Mayo Clinic; Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Rutgers University; Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Davis; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, San Diego; University of California, San Francisco; University of Southern California; Weill-Cornell Medical College.
Further Readings
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. http://casemed.case.edu (Accessed August 2014).
Cleveland Clinic. http://my.clevelandclinic.org (Accessed August 2014).
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. http://portals.clevelandclinic.org/cclcm/CollegeHome/tabid/7343/Default.aspx (Accessed Augsut 2014).
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The capacity of stem cells to differentiate into a wide range of cell types has fueled analysts to determine the extent of its applications; however, this discovery has also induced nonscientific groups to scrutinize the ethics and religious basis of this technology, particularly, the Catholic Church. The history of stem cell technology goes back to the time when researchers established the optimal conditions for isolating immature cells from a specific region of a blastocyst or an embryo prior to its implantation, which is also known as the inner cell mass.
