University Hospitals CEO Cliff Megerian, MD, FACS, Honored at Values-in-Action Celebration of Goodness with the Sam Miller Goodness Award

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.

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.