Daniel I. Simon, MD

Bio

Daniel I. Simon is President of Academic & External Affairs and Chief Scientific Officer for University Hospitals (UH). Additionally, he is Professor of Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

UH serves the needs of approximately one million patients through an integrated network of 21hospitals (including five joint ventures), over 50 health centers and outpatient facilities and more than 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio.

Since joining UH in 2006 as Division Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at UH Cleveland Medical Center and as Director of the UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, Dr. Simon has been promoted to increasing levels of responsibility as the system has grown, including President of Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, President of UH Cleveland Medical Center, President of Community Medical Centers, and Chief Clinical & Scientific Officer for the entire health system. In these positions, he also was charged with overseeing the operations and infrastructure for UH system institutes, including Seidman Cancer Center, Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, Neurological Institute, Digestive Health Institute, and the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.

Currently, as President of Academic & External Affairs and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Simon leads the system’s strategy and performance across the spectrum of research including basic, translational, clinical and health services/outcomes. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, with a total research portfolio, in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University, of $214 million and more than 3,400 active clinical trials and research studies underway. He is an integral member of the leadership team responsible for driving the tripartite healing, teaching and discovery mission that has resulted in UK Brand Finance ranking UH Cleveland Medical Center #8 Academic Medical Center in the United States and #16 in the World for 2025.

He also oversees UH’s graduate medical education and has primary responsibility for academic affiliations, including with Case Western Reserve University, University of Oxford, NEOMED, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and National Taiwan University College of Medicine. Dr. Simon is also charged with elevating the system’s performance in medical education and discovery to the highest levels and driving strategic philanthropy.

Additionally, Dr. Simon oversees The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development—a new commercialization model designed to accelerate promising discoveries into new medicines for unmet needs. Exciting partnerships include Morgan Stanley Wealth Management that leverages the non-profit MS-GIFT Cures powered by the Harrington Discovery Institute with a for-profit social impact fund on the Morgan Stanley platform (Advent Life Sciences 3), and with the University of Oxford, establishing the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre and Accelerator.

Dr. Simon is a practicing cardiologist and physician-scientist. He is the Principal Investigator of a research laboratory whose main area of focus is the structure, function, and signaling of leukocyte integrins and their role in broadly regulating inflammation and thrombosis with uninterrupted NIH funding from 1992 to the present, including the prestigious NHLBI R37 MERIT Award and recent P01 program project grant. A series of studies have provided evidence that inflammation is largely platelet-dependent in diverse disease models of restenosis, vasculitis, glomerulonephritis, multiple sclerosis and SLE. As an Interventional cardiologist, he played a leading role in national and international clinical trials investigating new devices and anti-thrombotic therapies. Published extensively in impactful peer-reviewed basic science and clinical journals (H-index 102).

A recipient of numerous research awards, Dr. Simon was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of University Cardiologists, and the Association of American Physicians. He is a recipient of the prestigious MERIT Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the 2016 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. Dr. Simon has served on the Editorial Boards of Circulation and Journal American College Cardiology and is currently appointed to the Editorial Board of JAMA Cardiology.

Dr. Simon is the Co-Founder of Sujana Biotech and Calida Therapeutics, start-up biotechnology companies developing novel monoclonal antibodies for a range of inflammatory and vascular disorders. The company’s lead product is in the early preclinical phase of development.

Dr. Simon has served on the Board of Directors of Cleveland Institute of Art, Montefiore Senior Living Community, BioEnterprise, Playhouse Square, University Circle Inc. and Center for Health Affairs.

He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College. After earning his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, he completed his internal medicine residency and cardiovascular medicine fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and interventional cardiology training at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Prior to UH, Dr. Simon served as Associate Director of Interventional Cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.