Fingerhut abruptly leaves Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the tech transfer unit of the research institute, has parted ways with its executive director Gary Fingerhut amidst an ongoing investigation into the financial transactions of one of its spinouts.

Cleveland Clinic, which has launched 43 spinouts which are approaching $1bn in externally raised funding, issued the following statement on the matter: “We were recently notified by a government agency regarding certain financial transactions involving one of our spin-off companies. The information led to the identification of violations in Cleveland Clinic policy and appropriate actions were taken. Cleveland Clinic was not a part of this inquiry. The current chairman of Innovations will oversee the office while a search for a new executive director is underway.”

It is not yet known which spinout is being investigated or why, nor is it known if Fingerhut, who ran the tech transfer unit for the past two years, is in any way involved.