Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi appoints new chief executive

Outgoing chief Dr Rakesh Suri returns to Ohio to head up Cleveland Clinic’s international operations

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has a dedicated obesity programme. Victor Besa / The National

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has appointed a new chief executive to run the 400-bed hospital in the capital.

Dr Jorge Guzman will take up the role on March 31, succeeding Dr Rakesh Suri. Dr Suri will return to the Cleveland Clinic's headquarters in Ohio as president of international operations.

Dr Guzman has been Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s chief of staff since 2017, responsible for physician recruitment and clinical operations for the hospital, which is part of Mubadala Health.

He is also a staff physician in the hospital’s Critical Care Institute, treating patients in Abu Dhabi, and a staff physician in Cleveland Clinic’s Critical Care department in Ohio, in the US.

As president of international operations, Dr Suri will lead Cleveland Clinic’s overall international strategy and business development opportunities.

In addition, he will be responsible for global patient services and oversee operations for Cleveland Clinic Canada.

“Dr Suri has made a measurable contribution to the exemplary clinical outcomes delivered at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in the four years of his leadership," said Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, chairman of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

“Through his expertise and understanding of the UAE and wider region, Dr Guzman is ideally positioned to grow the size and scope of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s complex care offering, further enabling the development of a more sustainable healthcare sector for the nation.”

Opened in 2015, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi performed the UAE’s first full heart transplant in 2017, and last year surgeons successfully completed the country's first pancreas transplant.