image: Image of the Magnetom Free.Max low-helium 0.55T MR scanner. This scanner is one of the products that Siemens Healthineers collaborates on with University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve.
Credit: Siemens Healthineers
University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University recently celebrated a major milestone: more than 40 years of groundbreaking collaboration in radiology among the institutions and Siemens Healthineers. The collaboration — anchored by a unique, long-standing tripartite agreement — has positioned UH and Case Western Reserve as global leaders in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) innovation and helped transform the future of patient care.
At the recent anniversary celebration, UH CEO Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair, and Case Western Reserve President Eric W. Kaler welcomed distinguished guests, including Bernd Montag, MD, CEO of Siemens Healthineers, Andreas Schneck, Executive Vice President of Magnetic Resonance, and Murat Gungor, Senior Vice President, Diagnostic Imaging North America. Together, they honored the impact of a collaboration that continues to shape the science and practice of medicine.
“This collaboration exemplifies what happens when academia, clinical care, and industry come together with shared purpose,” said Dr. Megerian. “It’s an innovation engine, rooted in trust, built on excellence and always focused on what matters most: our patients.”
“This decades-long collaboration is critical to this type of research, focusing on translating innovation and creativity out of the lab and into the world to best serve patients,” Kaler said. “It represents a global best-practice in industry-university-hospital collaboration.”
A Unique and Enduring Collaboration
Since its inception, the collaboration has focused primarily on MRI research and innovation, with co-Principal Investigators Mark Griswold, PhD, Professor and Pavey Family Chair in Radiology at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and Jeffrey Sunshine, MD, PhD, UH Chief Medical Information Officer and Executive Vice Chair Radiology, leading the effort locally. A cornerstone of the agreement is Siemens Healthineers’ continued provisioning of state-of-the-art MRI equipment to UH — long before commercial release — enabling the UH-CWRU research team to explore new applications and integrate the latest technology directly into clinical care.
The results speak for themselves: The collaboration has driven more than $100 million in National Institutes of Health funding since 2006, including $64 million since 2020. Siemens Healthineers has also provided more than $15 million in corporate-sponsored research since the agreement was signed.
This collaboration has also produced more than 217 invention disclosures, 136 U.S. patents, and 31 international patents generated by 148 faculty, staff, and students.
Real-World Impact on Patient Care
The collaboration has accelerated the pace at which new MRI technology becomes available to patients — often compressing a typical 15-year adoption curve to just a few years. That means earlier disease detection, more precise diagnosis, and more effective treatment planning across the UH health system.
Among the more groundbreaking advancements to emerge from the collaboration is MR Fingerprinting (MRF), a revolutionary method that uses unique signal "fingerprints" to improve tissue characterization. UH patients with brain and prostate cancer are already benefitting from MRF-guided care, with ongoing research exploring new applications in stroke triage and MRI-guided interventions.
“The standard of care is pushed higher sooner because of this relationship,” said Dr. Sunshine. “We’re not just imagining the future of imaging — we’re building it, right here.”
A Global Footprint
Technologies developed through the UH-CWRU-Siemens Healthineers collaboration have shaped multiple U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved products used worldwide — impacting the care of over 100,000 patients daily, according to Dr. Sunshine.
As Siemens Healthineers continues to advance imaging technology, the collaboration ensures that UH and Case Western Reserve remain early adopters and key contributors. And through a separate, enduring commercial relationship with Siemens Healthineers, UH is able to deploy the most advanced imaging solutions across the health system, improving care well beyond the research setting.
“This collaboration is a model of how basic science developments can be translated through commercial partners to improve our health," Griswold said. "It also demonstrates that for-profit companies like Siemens Healthineers can see decades of benefits from investments in university and early clinical research. We can’t wait to see what the next 40 years brings."
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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 five 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, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Oxford University, Taiwan National University College of Medicine and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. 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 3,000 active clinical trials and research studies underway. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report. 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.
At Case Western Reserve, one of the nation's leading research universities, we're driven to seek knowledge and find solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems. Nearly 6,200 undergraduate and 6,100 graduate students from across 96 countries study in our more than 250 degree programs across arts, dental medicine, engineering, law, management, medicine, nursing, science and social work. Our location in Cleveland, Ohio—a hub of cultural, business and healthcare activity—gives students unparalleled access to engaging academic, research, clinical, entrepreneurial and volunteer opportunities and prepares them to join our network of 125,000+ alumni making an impact worldwide. Visit case.edu to learn more.
Siemens Healthineers pioneers breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably. The company is a global provider of healthcare equipment, solutions and services, with activities in more than 180 countries and direct representation in more than 70. The group comprises Siemens Healthineers AG, listed as SHL in Frankfurt, Germany, and its subsidiaries. As a leading medical technology company, Siemens Healthineers is committed to improving access to healthcare for underserved communities worldwide and is striving to overcome the most threatening diseases. The company is principally active in the areas of imaging, diagnostics, cancer care and minimally invasive therapies, augmented by digital technology and artificial intelligence. In fiscal 2024, which ended on September 30, 2024, Siemens Healthineers had approximately 72,000 employees worldwide and generated revenue of around €22.4 billion. Further information is available at www.siemens-healthineers.com.