Innovation, influence and business in America's medical cities.

Diana Tirpak considers herself a living example of the greatest recycling program on the planet.Two years ago, her life was saved by something most hospitals treat as trash ’ the umbilical cord blood from a newborn.A baby’s cord blood is rich with stem cells, which increasingly are being used to cure [...]

Case Western Reserve University faculty from the Center for Global Child Health and pediatricians at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital are helping to lead the pediatric disaster response to the Haiti earthquake.

The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron plans to award its first six research grants for $100,000 each by mid-February.

MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland is one of 42 public hospitals selected to participate in the Patient Safety Initiative at America’s Public Hospitals program, which aims to improve patient safety and quality.

MetroHealth Medical Center is suing Reliance Mechanical LLC– one of the companies implicated in Cuyahoga County’s ongoing corruption probe — over $28 million of work it did for the health system from 2003 through 2008, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. MetroHealth wants Cuyahogal County Common Pleas Court to stop arbitration proceedings by Reliance to collect millions of dollars in back-payments from the hospital, as well as the return of millions the hospital already has paid the heating and plumbing contractor.

MetroHealth Medical Center is close to opening a Ronald McDonald Family Room — a feat of fundraising success at a time when raising money is as tough as the economy. The MetroHealth Foundation raised $128,500 from foundations, corporations and individuals to build the family room.

A couple of Midwest biomedical companies announced new venture financing this week. Could the deep freeze for early-stage investments be thawing?