D. Geoffrey Vince, Ph.D., Tapped as Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations

June 3, 2021

Last year, Vince was the recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Hickey Innovation Impact award for his concept of a “breathalyzer” for rapid COVID-19 diagnosis

Rajiv Leventhal

Cleveland Clinic has named D. Geoffrey Vince, Ph.D., the executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations.

In this newly formed role, Vince will align Cleveland Clinic’s technology development strategies with scientific and research priorities—including growth in data and computing sciences—to accelerate the discoveries of new treatments and drugs. He will look to build strategic partnerships and alliances in these areas to drive revenue growth through commercialization of intellectual property, officials said in a press release announcement.

Innovations, the commercial arm of Cleveland Clinic, aims to turn 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, Cleveland Clinic Innovations has helped launch more than 80 start-up companies.

Officials at Cleveland Clinic stated that “Vince has vast experience as a researcher, inventor and leader in both academia and industry, coupling expertise in biomedical engineering research with broad understanding of business practices and goals.” His virtual histology technology was licensed by Volcano Corp., which later sold to Philips.

Vince has also been chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Lerner Research Institute at Cleveland Clinic for 10 years. He was principal investigator on Cleveland Clinic’s National Center for Accelerated Innovations and holds 12 patents and several U.S. Department of Defense grants for his research laboratory.

Vince’s specific areas of research interest include vascular imaging, image and signal processing and atherosclerotic plaque characteristics, which are pertinent to heart disease and stroke, according to the announcement. His team is developing mathematical algorithms based on quantitative ultrasound and acoustic radiation force impulse imaging that can more precisely analyze ultrasound images of carotid arteries. In 2020, he was the recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Hickey Innovation Impact award for his concept of a “breathalyzer” for rapid COVID-19 diagnosis.

“Cleveland Clinic has an extraordinarily innovative culture, in which all caregivers are encouraged to develop new ideas to improve patient care,” Vince said in a statement. “Cleveland Clinic Innovations serves to facilitate those inventions with the most promise for fueling medical advances and economic growth in Northeast Ohio. We look forward to continuing this tradition while implementing new business strategies.”

Serpil Erzurum, M.D., Cleveland Clinic’s chief research and academic officer, added, “Dr. Vince’s appointment to the helm of Cleveland Clinic Innovations is a key part of our new global strategy for research and innovations. His visionary leadership style and wealth of experience in healthcare and industry make him the ideal person to lead Cleveland Clinic Innovations and its critical work to market the breakthrough inventions of our caregivers into new medical products and companies that benefit our patients.”