image: Pictured from Left to Right: Stuart Muszynski, President & CEO, Values-in-Action Foundation; Cliff Megerian, MD, FACS, University Hospitals CEO and the Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair; and Daniel Simon, MD, President, Academic & External Affairs, Chief Scientific Officer, and Ernie and Patti Novak Distinguished Chair in Health Care Leadership at UH.
Credit: Values-in-Action Foundation
CLEVELAND – University Hospitals CEO, Cliff Megerian, MD, FACS, was honored to receive the Sam Miller Goodness Award by the Values-in-Action Foundation on Dec. 8, joining an inspiring lineup of honorees who shine their light throughout Northeast Ohio and contribute to making the community a better place to live.
Each year, the Values-in-Action Foundation honors individuals who represent goodness, caring and respect beyond the norm.
The Values-in-Action Foundation stated: “Dr. Cliff Megerian and UH’s dedicated team of caregivers and physicians provide compassionate care and world-class research every single day. What truly sets Dr. Megerian apart is his unwavering commitment to kindness, and his belief that kindness is essential to healing. By training, Dr. Megerian is an ENT specialist. But under his leadership, UH has become known for a different kind of ENT—Extra Necessary Touches. For his deep compassion, visionary leadership, and relentless commitment to goodness in healthcare, Values-in-Action Foundation is proud to honor Dr. Cliff Megerian with the Sam Miller Goodness Award.”
The Celebration of Goodness continues the legacies of event founder Sam Miller and former Values-in-Action board chairman Arnold Pinkney. Both Miller and Pinkney envisioned Northeast Ohio as a community of goodness and kindness. That is why the Celebration of Goodness highlights Value-in-Action’s ongoing Kindland initiative which aims to create a more positive community by bringing together schools, businesses, organizations, and government through shared acts of kindness.
Now in its 31st year, Values-in-Action is a Cleveland-based, non-profit organization that empowers students and adults to build communities of kindness, caring and respect through programs that teach, promote, and provide skills and tools to enable individuals to make positive, values-based decisions every day. Since its founding as Project Love in 1994, Values-in-Action has trained more than 2.6 million students in over 6,000 schools in all 50 states.
Dr. Megerian is also the Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair. Additional 2025 honorees included Michael Baston, J.D., Ed.D. (Cuyahoga Community College), Randy McShepard (RPM International Inc.), National Council of Jewish Women/CLE (Represented by Marcy Schwartz & Mindi Axner), Margaret W. Wong (Margaret W. Wong & Associates LLC), Lorain Police Officers Peter Gale & Brent Payne. The event also remembered fallen Lorain Police Officer Phillip Wagner.
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For additional information about the event, the honorees, or Values-in-Action programming, visit www.viafdn.org.
About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio
Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of more than 20 hospitals (including 5 joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship quaternary care, academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, NEOMED, Oxford University, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and National Taiwan University College of Medicine. The main campus also includes the UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, with more than 3,400 active clinical trials and research studies underway. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national and international ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report and UK Brand Finance. UH is also home to 19 Clinical Care Delivery and Research Institutes. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with more than 30,000 employees. Follow UH on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.