Floyd D. Loop

Dr. Floyd Loop has distinguished himself with his extraordinary accomplishments, vision, and leadership in the field of cardiac medicine and health care.

He practiced cardiothoracic surgery for 30 years and headed the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic for 14 of those years before becoming chief executive officer and chairman of the board of governors of the clinic’s foundation. He retired as CEO in 2004 but remains employed by the foundation as a consultant while still living in Cleveland.

Dr. Loop was raised in Lafayette, Ind., earning a bachelor of science degree from Purdue in 1958 and his medical degree from George Washington University in 1962.

He spent most of the 1960s in the Washington, D.C., area as a surgery intern and general surgeon at George Washington University and Andrews Air Force Base before joining the Cleveland Clinic in 1968 to obtain his residency in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. By 1974 Dr. Loop was appointed chairman of that department at age 38.

During the next 25 years, he operated on thousands of patients, wrote hundreds of original scientific articles and book chapters, and trained scores of young cardiac surgeons who were drawn from around the world to continue their education at the Cleveland Clinic largely due to his reputation.
Dr. Loop was chosen president of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery and chairman of the Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery while serving in several capacities at the National Institutes of Health and receiving honorary memberships in a number of clinical societies overseas.

After establishing himself as an internationally recognized cardiac surgeon, he moved into the position of CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1989. Under his leadership, the clinic enjoyed unprecedented growth in size and reputation and is now Cleveland’s largest employer with more than 30,000 employees, including 1,500 physicians.

He has served on the editorial boards of 15 medical journals and was recognized as one of the best doctors in America by the U.S. News and World Report and as a Distinguished Alumnus of Purdue’s College of Science in 2005.