Cliff Megerian, MD

About

Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, is Chief Executive Officer of University Hospitals (UH), a comprehensive health system with annual revenues of $4.5 billion, 23 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. Prior to that, Dr. Megerian served as the system’s President, a position he was appointed to in December 2019.

Previously, Dr. Megerian served as President, University Hospitals Physician Network and System Institutes, where 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 14 UH system institutes. These clinical care institutes bring highly trained sub-specialists together from multiple disciplines to collaborate on the best treatment for patients -- promoting uniform, standard care protocols and the sharing of best practices.

Prior to that role, Dr. Megerian served as President, University Hospitals Physician Services, where he raised physician productivity to its highest level and significantly increased physician engagement. UH’s physician network includes the fulltime academic medical practice at UH Cleveland Medical Center and UH’s community-based, multi-specialty physician network throughout Northeast Ohio.

As a surgeon, Dr. Megerian co-founded UH’s Cochlear implant program and he and his team have performed over 1,000 cochlear implant surgeries making it one of the largest programs in the country.

Prior to joining UH in 2002, Dr. Megerian served on the physician staffs of the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Metro Health System Medical Center and Boston Medical Center. Additionally, Dr. Megerian worked at University of Massachusetts Medical Center, where he served as Director of Residency Training, Physician Unit Chief, Department of Audiology, Medical Director, Cochlear Implantation Program, Co-Director, Center for Skull Base Diseases, and Director of Otology and Neurotology in the Department of Otolaryngology.

Dr. Megerian’ s clinical career has been devoted to the management of hearing loss, chronic ear disease, cholesteatoma, otosclerosis, vertigo, and other otology and neurotolgy issues. He is also an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of acoustic neuroma. He has published over 120 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 sits on the Editorial Board of key journals in his field and has been selected by the FDA to serve as a consultant in the regulation of Ear, Nose and Throat Devices. He has been appointed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology to represent the Academy on the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCHI).

Dr. Megerian is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School and completed a residency in otolaryngology at Case Western Reserve University. He completed a research and clinical fellowship in otology and neurotology at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. In 2009 he completed a certificate program in health care management at Weatherhead School of Business at Case Western Reserve University. In 2017, Dr. Megerian was elected for a six-year term on the American Hospital Association’s Regional Policy Board.

Dr. Megerian resides in Shaker Heights with his wife. They have three adult children.