Clinic tells patients that acclaimed surgeon and founder of Minority Men's Health Fair "will no longer be seeing patients here…"

Charles Modlin, M.D., MBA, a leading kidney transplant surgeon, urologist, and director of Minority Health at Cleveland Clinic, is officially leaving the Clinic at the end of this month.

There is some speculation that Cleveland's highest profile African American physician may already be gone. Modlin's Linkedin profile has been revised to say that he is "open to work … Full-time • Remote • Contract • Part-time".

A perfunctory letter dated March 3 was mailed last week to Dr. Modlin's patients informing them that "Charles Modlin, M.D., MBA, is leaving Cleveland Clinic and will no longer be seeing patients here after March 31, 2021. We have enjoyed having Dr. Modlin as a colleague and wish him well in his future endeavors."

The letter was signed by Georges-Pascal Haber, whose position is listed as chair of the Department of Urology at the Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute.

Modlin has been at the Clinic since 1993. He almost singlehandedly befriended the entire black community on behalf of the Clinic, which for decades preceding his arrival had a cold suspicious relationship with its mostly black and poor surrounding neighbors.

Modlin, a nationally renowned kidney transplant surgeon and urologist, founded a unit at the Clinic devoted to the study and care of minority health issues. He established the Men's Minority Health Fair, which prior to COVID-19's arrival last year, was an ever-expanding annual event bringing thousands of black men to multiple Clinic campuses, undoubtedly helping to save lives, at the same time garnering for the Clinic perhaps hundreds of new patients and incalculable amounts of good will for his employer.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Modlin has appeared [virtually] all over town in his Clinic garb, sharing medical knowledge about COVID, and imploring multiple audiences, initially to be tested, and now, to get vaccinated.

Attempts to reach Modlin through his Clinic email and company-issued cellphone were unsuccessful. His Linkedin profile [shown above] states that he is available for employment opportunities, listing "surgeon, executive director, and public speaker" among his skill set. 

Community reaction to the news of Modlin's separation has uniformly been high praise mixed with surprise.

Dr. Gregory Hall, former chair of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, the medical director of the Eliza Bryant Center, author, educator, and himself a highly regarded family physician, among many other roles, spoke in superlatives of Modlin's leadership and said that his departure was "no question a great loss to the community."

A similar assessment was made by city councilman Blaine Griffin, whose Ward 6 community encompasses the lion's share of the Clinic's main campus footprint. Griffin said he was shocked to learn of Modlin's departure, calling it a "huge loss".

"Dr. Modlin has been a phenomenal presence in the community. What he's done with the Minority Men's Health Fair has been nothing short of fantastic! I dare say it's even been life-saving. And what I've been most appreciative of lately is his dedication to research. He is big on precision medicine — the collection of data that enables better treatment of African Americans."

The Real Deal reached out to both the office of Clinic CEO and President Tom Mihaljevic as well as to the Clinic's media relations department via phone calls and text without response.

The Clinic is in the midst of celebrating its centennial. While it has nonprofit status, there is no question that it is big business. The Clinic is, in point of fact, the largest employer in the City of Cleveland. 

Modlin's unexpected departure may resuscitate old questions about the Clinic's relationship to the community. It begs the question of how the Clinics's bottom lines have been affected by the large number of new patients — many of them perhaps with multiple chronic health issues and perhaps less blue chip medical insurance — attracted to the Clinic by Modlin's outreach efforts. We would like to ask the Clinic whether the new Mihaljevic administration prizes the patients and enormous goodwill attributable to Modlin's efforts, or whether such new business is a liability in the Clinic's global business model.

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Related: Arrest that procrastinating black man for his own good.