New Leaders Appointed to Cleveland Clinic Innovations

Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the commercialization arm of Cleveland Clinic, has appointed two new leaders in a realignment of its structure to enhance the commercialization process. Peter O’Neill will serve as Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations (CCI) and Jack Miner will be Managing Director of Cleveland Clinic Ventures.

“Cleveland Clinic Innovations has established itself as an international leader in converting breakthrough inventions of our caregivers into technologies that improve patient care,” said Brian Donley, M.D., Chief of Staff at Cleveland Clinic. “This new leadership structure positions Cleveland Clinic Innovations to have an even more robust, streamlined commercialization impact. Under the joint leadership of Pete and Jack, CCI is poised to further transform the way technology is transferred from an academic institution to market.”

Cleveland Clinic Innovations turns medical breakthrough inventions into patient-benefiting medical products and companies using a unique approach to assess, protect, build, test and market the most promising ideas of Cleveland Clinic caregivers. Founded in 2000, CCI has issued over 850 patents and executed more than 500 licenses on medical devices and techniques. Additionally, CCI has helped launch 77 companies which have created over 1,200 jobs and raised more than $1 billion in follow-on funding.

The restructuring will align the commercialization process under two Cleveland Clinic departments. Dr. Donley will oversee CCI and Steven Glass, Chief Financial Officer, Cleveland Clinic, will oversee Cleveland Clinic Ventures.

“This new structure will maintain appropriate separation and eliminate any conflicts of interest in the commercialization process,” Glass said. “It will also better position Cleveland Clinic to take to market the breakthrough inventions of our caregivers into new medical products and companies that benefit patients.”

An accomplished expert in commercialization, O’Neill has more than 10 years of experience with CCI, including serving as director of commercialization and chief executive of one of its spinoff companies, Custom Orthopaedic Solutions. Prior to joining CCI, O’Neill held positions as deputy director of the Great Lakes Industrial Technology Commercialization Center and product engineer at PCC Airfoils.

“Cleveland Clinic Innovations is a world-class institution and our entrepreneurially powered commercialization team is an international model,” O’Neill said. “This new structure sets us up to even more successfully fulfill our potential as a world-class destination for healthcare commercialization. Healthcare’s challenges are not going to be solved by doctors or by entrepreneurs or by venture capitalists working alone. They’re going to be solved by all of us coming together, and sharing our expertise, with a relentless focus on how we best serve our patients and our communities.”

In his new role at the helm of Cleveland Clinic Ventures, Miner oversees a team that focuses on the 77 spin-off companies in its portfolio. He also plays a lead role in spinning off new companies and raising the funds needed to not only get off the ground, but to get all the way to market. These plans will include funding strategies, technology road maps and business model development.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic, Miner was director of the Venture Center at the University of Michigan and was responsible for launching startups and creating a business formation infrastructure around intellectual property for the Office of Technology Transfer. In that role, he helped to launch more than 50 startup companies and worked with a portfolio of more than 300 emerging technologies spanning all industries.

“Cleveland Clinic Ventures has a strategy to maximize the results of our spin-off companies and build them into successful, sustainable companies,” Miner said. “We have a unique and incomparable infrastructure in place to ensure that our startups are the highest quality and in the best position to thrive and grow. I look forward to taking this tremendous pipeline of companies to a new level.”

Successful Cleveland Clinic spinoffs include Explorys, a data firm purchased by IBM, and Intellect, a neuroscience device-maker acquired by Boston Scientific. In June 2016, CCI executed a license with a national patient experience services company to distribute and implement Cleveland Clinic’s Communicate with H.E.A.R.T. program to hospitals looking to improve their patient experience. NaviGate performed a first in human transcatheter mitral valve replacement in April 2015. Cleveland Heart Labs has grown to over 200 employees.

CCI hosts the annual Medical Innovation Summit, which brings together over 2,200 of the brightest leaders from around the world. This year’s Medical Innovation Summit will be held October 23-25 and will focus on genomics and precision medicine.

“Cleveland Clinic inventions are born out of our organization’s innovative culture, in which our caregivers are passionate about continually advancing patient care,” said Dr. Donley. “Cleveland Clinic Innovations and its spinoffs have had a significant impact on improving patient care and on the economic growth in Northeast Ohio. We look forward to continued future success.”