Dr. Marc Penn is a cardiologist and Director of Research and the Director of the Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship at the Summa Cardiovascular Institute, Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio and Professor of Medicine and Integrative Medical Sciences at Northeast Ohio Medical University where he leads the Skirball Laboratory for Cardiovascular Cellular Therapeutics. He serves as the first Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at Summa Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Penn was a staff cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic from 2000-2011 where he served as the Director of the Coronary Intensive Care Unit, Director of the Experimental Animal Laboratory, Director of the Bakken Heart-Brain Institute, and the first Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Cell Therapy. Dr. Penn is a successful serial entrepreneur.
Dr. Penn completed his undergraduate and postgraduate work at Case Western Reserve University completing a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 1989 and Doctor of Medicine in 1994. He completed his Internal Medicine training at University Hospitals of Cleveland (1994-97) and his Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic (1997-2000). He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine. During his training he received numerous awards including the 2000 Joseph Cash Memorial Prize for Clinical Outcomes Research and the 1999 Irvine H. Page Young Investigator award for Atherosclerosis Research presented by the National American Heart Association. His work led to SDF-1 being chosen as a Top Advanced Therapy to Watch (November 2013, Boston). He has adjunct appointments at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Bioengineering Center at Cleveland State University.
Dr. Penn’s research has led to several discoveries in the field of cardiovascular medicine. His education and training have helped him develop diagnostics and drug delivery systems for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, including strategies to optimize gene and stem cell therapy for regeneration of myocardial tissue. Dr. Penn has been an organizer and invited lecturer at international symposiums and conferences and is author or co-author of numerous published articles, abstracts, book chapters and books on a wide range of topics, from diabetes and lipoprotein oxidation; the development and role of cardiovascular diagnostics in clinical medicine; and stem cell and gene based therapies for heart disease. He is the Editor or co-Editor of 3 books including Stem Cells and Myocardial Regeneration published by Humana Press. Dr. Penn is an active inventor, serial entrepreneur and internationally recognized as an expert in translating basic science research to clinical populations that impact patient outcomes. He has generated intellectual property in the fields of diagnostics, biologics and devices that has been licensed by numerous companies, having authored dozens of U.S. and international patent applications. In 2006 he was named Innovator of the Year at the Cleveland Clinic. He is the founder and CMO of Juventas Therapeutics, Inc. (Cleveland, OH) a privately funded clinical stage regenerative medicine company founded on intellectual property developed in his laboratory for cardiovascular disease and cosmetic wound healing. He has designed and participated in executing the Phase II studies STOP-CLI, STOP-HF and RETRO-HF. He also serves on the BOD of Juventas Therapeutics. He is co-founder and CMO of Cleveland Heart Lab, Inc. (Cleveland, OH), a diagnostic company based on biomarkers associated with coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction and other inflammatory diseases that now services >3000 physicians. He was founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cour Pharma from 2007-2010 (Kalamazoo, MI). He is an advisor and Scientific Advisory Board member of numerous companies and funds. Of note he is the PI of the Athersys MultiStem in AMI Phase I and II trials, serves on the SAB of NeuroTronik, Inc. and served on the Aastrom Biosciences SAB. He is a Venture Partner with Oakwood Medical Investors (St. Louis, MO) and served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Frantz Medical Ventures (2004-08, New York City), and as a Clinical Partner with Foundation Medical Partners (2009-11, New Canaan, CT) he represented the interests of the Cleveland Clinic. He served on the BOD of CardioVIP (2012-2014, Houston, TX) and currently serves on the BOD of SnappSkin (Cleveland, OH) and Rhythm Therapeutics (Chicago, IL). From 2008-10 Dr. Penn served as the Senior Medical Director for Emerging Businesses at Cleveland Clinic. He is recognized as one of the top 50 doctors in the history of the Cleveland Clinic (MedCity News, December 2011).