Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS

Bio

Cliff A. Megerian, MD, is Chief Executive Officer of University Hospitals (UH), a comprehensive health system with annual revenues of $6.0 billion, 21 hospitals (including 5 joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices located throughout 16 counties. He assumed this position in February 2021 and joined UH in 2002. He is also the Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair.

In December 2019, Dr. Megerian was appointed the system’s President, where he led the organization through an unprecedented pandemic. Prior to that, he served as President, University Hospitals Physician Network, Physician Services and System Institutes. In these positions, he was charged with managing the clinical integration strategies, policies and practice guidelines for more than 2,500 UH employed physicians as well as the operations and infrastructure for UH system institutes. These clinical care institutes bring highly trained subspecialists together from multiple disciplines to collaborate on the best treatment for patients – promoting uniform, standard care protocols and the sharing of best practices.

Additionally, he raised physician productivity to its highest level and significantly increased physician engagement and research funding. UH’s physician network includes the full-time academic medical practice at UH Cleveland Medical Center and UH’s community-based, multi-specialty physician network throughout Northeast Ohio.

Dr. Megerian is also a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine, where he was Chair from 2012 – 2018 and held the Julius McCall Professorship at CWRU, as well as the Richard and Patricia Pogue endowed Chair in Auditory Surgery and Hearing Sciences at UH. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Prior to UH, he served on the physician staffs of the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veteran Affairs Medical Center and MetroHealth System Medical Center. At the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Dr. Megerian was the Director of Otology and Neurotology, as well as the Director of Residency Training, the Medical Director, Cochlear Implantation Program, and the Co-Director, Center for Skull Base Diseases. He also served on the medical staff of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Boston Medical Center.

Dr. Megerian’s clinical career has been devoted to the management of hearing loss, chronic ear disease, cholesteatoma, otosclerosis, vertigo, and other otology and neurotology issues. As a surgeon, Dr. Megerian co-founded UH’s Cochlear implant program and he and his team have performed over 1,500 cochlear implant surgeries, making it one of the largest programs in the country.

He is also an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of acoustic neuroma. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts and abstracts and has served as visiting professor at numerous medical schools and institutions throughout the world.

His research interests in the pathogenesis of Meniere’s disease have been funded by a number of agencies including the NIH and DRF. He previously served as a consultant to the FDA in the regulation of Ear, Nose and Throat Devices. He is co-author of a textbook in its second publishing, “Surgery of the Cerebellopontine Angle.”

Dr. Megerian is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School and completed a residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at University Hospitals of Cleveland and CWRU. He completed a research and clinical fellowship in otology and neurotology at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He also completed a certificate program in healthcare management at Weatherhead School of Business at CWRU.

Dr. Megerian serves on the American Hospital Association’s Health Systems Committee. In addition, he serves on the boards of the Ohio Hospital Association, the Ohio Business Roundtable and the Greater Cleveland Partnership. He is also Chair of the Cleveland Innovation District/Jobs Ohio Consortium.

In 2023 and 2022, Becker’s Healthcare named Dr. Megerian one of the Great Leaders in U.S. Healthcare and in one of the top Highly Successful Health System CEO-CFO Duos. Ohio Business Magazine appointed him to the Ohio 500, recognizing the most powerful and influential leaders who are working to make Ohio great. Crain’s Cleveland Business named Dr. Megerian to the Power 150 – a list of executives leading some of Northeast Ohio's most influential organizations who are in a position to move the region forward. Additionally, digital media company C Suite Spotlight ranked Dr. Megerian among the Top 25 Hospital Executives for 2023. Modern Healthcare also named Dr. Megerian one of the 100 Most Influential People in the U.S. healthcare industry in 2023.

As CEO of University Hospitals, Dr. Megerian also led the system to attain the 2022 AHA Quest for Quality Prize – the industry’s most prestigious honor recognizing its member organizations for their commitment to quality.

Dr. Megerian and his wife Lynne Sheffler Megerian, MD, reside in Shaker Heights. They have three adult children.