Cleveland Clinic Celebrates 90th Anniversary

Cleveland Clinic opened its doors on Feb. 28, 1921.  It was a new kind of medical center: a not-for-profit group practice, dedicated to patient care enhanced by research and education.  A staff of six surgeons, four internists, a radiologist, an otolaryngologist and a biophysicist welcomed the first patients, 41 in all that day.

Since then, Cleveland Clinic has grown to include 2,800 physicians and scientists, 11,000 nurses, 50 buildings on a 180-acre main campus, nine community hospitals, 16 suburban family health centers and facilities in Florida, Canada, Las Vegas and, in 2013, Abu Dhabi, forming a comprehensive global health system.

Cleveland Clinic survived disaster and The Great Depression to become one of the busiest and most innovative medical centers in the world.  Cleveland Clinic has grown into an integrated healthcare delivery system, with locations on both hemispheres, linked by information technology, critical care transport and a collaborative model of medicine.

The world's first cine-coronary angiography, first published coronary artery bypass surgery, first successful larynx transplant and first near-total face transplant took place here.  Millions of patients have enjoyed longer, better lives, thanks to Cleveland Clinic.

Click here to look back on 90 years of patient care and patient caregivers.