Toby Cosgrove

Delos M. Cosgrove M.D., is president and chief executive officer of Cleveland Clinic. Under his leadership, Cleveland Clinic has experienced improved clinical outcomes and increased patient satisfaction, and expanded locally, nationally and internationally. Dr. Cosgrove has enacted policies focused on quality improvement, improved patient experience, and greater transparency and accountability at all levels of the organization. He has reaffirmed Cleveland Clinic’s dedication to clinical medicine at all levels, and is leading its reorganization into institutes based around specific diseases and organ systems. Dr. Cosgrove has committed Cleveland Clinic to major support for local schools, hunger centers, and high school apprenticeship programs in nursing and the biological sciences. As CEO, Dr. Cosgrove presides over a 4.6 billion dollar healthcare system comprised of the Cleveland Clinic, nine community hospitals, 14 family health and ambulatory surgery centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Cleveland Clinic Toronto, and the developing Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. The years since Dr. Cosgrove’s appointment as president and CEO in 2004, have been the most successful in Cleveland Clinic history and include Cleveland Clinic being ranked among the top three hospitals in America (U.S. News & World Report); contracts and MOUs to establish Cleveland Clinic medicine in Abu Dhabi, Toronto, Vienna, Singapore and Seattle; and a successful 1.25 billion dollar capital campaign to support over 4 million square feet in new construction and improvement. Dr. Cosgrove received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville and completed his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Brook General Hospital in London. His undergraduate work was at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He was a surgeon in the U.S. Air Force and served in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam as the Chief of U.S. Air Force Casualty Staging Flight. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Republic of Vietnam Commendation Medal. Joining Cleveland Clinic in 1975, Dr. Cosgrove was named chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgery in 1989. Under his leadership, Cleveland Clinic’s heart program was ranked number one in America for ten years in a row (U.S. News & World Report). He has published nearly 450 journal articles, book chapters, one book and 17 training and continuing medical education films. Before retiring from surgery in 2006, Dr. Cosgrove achieved one of the most distinguished and accomplished careers in the field of cardiac and thoracic surgery. He performed more than 22,000 operations and earned an international reputation for expertise in all areas of cardiac surgery, especially valve repair. A pioneer and refiner of advanced surgical techniques, Dr. Cosgrove was a pacesetter in the development of minimally invasive valve surgery, and performed the first minimally invasive mitral valve surgery over a worldwide video network in 1996. As an innovator, Dr. Cosgrove has 30 patents filed for developing medical and clinical products used in surgical environments. He is a member of 16 scientific societies including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, the American Heart Association and the American Association of Thoracic Surgery, for which he served as president in 2000. He is an honorary member of six international organizations. The recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Master Clinician Award, Innovator of the Year Award and Lerner Humanitarian Award, Dr. Cosgrove is also a member of Cleveland Medical Hall of Fame and Cleveland Business Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was named Cleveland Business Executive of the Year by the Sales and Marketing Executives of Cleveland, and Castle Connolly’s National Physician of the Year. He also received the Woodrow Wilson Center Award for Public Service as well as Harvard Business School’s Award from HBS Alumni, Cleveland.