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Dr. Tom Mihaljevic speaking at the “When Legacy Meets Leading Edge” session.
HLTH 2025 collected today’s boldest ideas in healthcare, and Cleveland Clinic Innovations (CCI) was at the center of the conversation. Across panels, networking sessions, and product demonstrations, CCI leaders showed attendees how Cleveland Clinic is setting the standard for strategic AI adoption. They also reinforced a clear message: artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare must be clinically validated, bias-aware, and seamlessly integrated into care delivery.
Discussions throughout HLTH 2025 revealed that the industry is focused on three priorities:
CCI’s presence and contributions underscored these themes, especially around what it means to responsibly adopt AI. “Leaders are eager to move beyond AI hype,” says Gerald “Jerry” Wilmink, PhD, MBA, Director for Business Development and Licensing at Cleveland Clinic Innovations. “They want proof—and Cleveland Clinic’s top leaders, Cleveland Clinic Chief Digital Officer, Rohit Chandra, PhD, and CEO Tom Mihaljevic, MD, brought a healthy dose of evidence-first scrutiny and underscored what it takes to responsibly scale proven tools.”
CCI showcased its AI-powered hypertension solution during HLTH—a clinically validated tool designed to simplify decision-making and accelerate time-to-control. Built on data from more than 400,000 patients and 10.5 million encounters, the solution provides bias-aware recommendations with confidence intervals and integrates directly into electronic medical records (EMRs) for point-of-care use. It also demonstrates how Cleveland Clinic responsibly embeds AI into clinical workflows to empower caregivers and enhance patient care.
“Hypertension represents one of the most impactful areas for AI,” believes Jerry, who explored this topic in greater detail in a recent thought leadership piece for HLTH. “It’s the world’s most prevalent chronic condition, and a leading driver of preventable morbidity and mortality. Our solution is built to reinforce decision support into routine practice and enhance patient outcomes.”
The CCI team is also advancing innovation in ophthalmology through AI-driven imaging technology developed at Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye Institute. This platform analyzes retinal imaging data with exceptional precision, extracting biomarkers from optical coherence tomography (OCT) and ultra-widefield angiography (UWFA) scans. By enabling automated disease detection, predictive modeling, and real-time surgical guidance, the technology supports personalized treatment planning and accelerates clinical trials. Clinically validated and patent-protected, these tools are designed to transform care and advance precision medicine globally.
When it comes to innovation and AI, HLTH attendees shared their observations for future success. Cross-specialty innovation, says Sonja O’Malley, MBA, PMP, General Manager, Business Development and Licensing, is key for turning a clinician insight into a market-ready solution in CCI’s portfolio. Sonja also shared her perspectives on AI in recent interviews with Digital Health Wire and Healthcare Drive.
This is especially evident in emerging collaborations; Linda Li, MSc, CFA, Partner for Cleveland Clinic Ventures, noted a broader diversity of companies at HLTH 2025, including diagnostics. AI in diagnostics is prompting pharmaceutical companies and hospitals to collaborate more closely, using hospital data to feed solutions on the pharmaceutical side.
CCI is leveraging HLTH momentum to accelerate initiatives in surgical AI and global digital health solutions. The recent Life Sciences Summit in London showcased how cross-border collaboration is driving breakthroughs in areas such as AI-assisted surgery and predictive analytics. Preparations are already underway for the Life Sciences Summit 2026, where Cleveland Clinic will continue to lead conversations on scaling innovation responsibly.
“HLTH is where healthcare’s boldest ideas meet real-world solutions, and Cleveland Clinic Innovations positioned itself as a leader in this field,” says Todd Schwarziner, MBA, Partner at Cleveland Clinic Ventures. Todd’s takeaways from the conference were also detailed in HLTH 2025 coverage from Fierce Healthcare and Healthcare IT Today. “The energy of this conference shows how the appetite for innovation and the expectation for responsible applications of AI continue to evolve. The quality of conversations that happen here, both planned and spontaneous, drives new opportunities for collaboration.”
