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Shaker has a literal abundance of health care professionals who call the City home. Many of them are work-a-day doctors, nurses, researchers, social workers, and practitioners of what the City’s Economic Development Director Tania Menesse calls “ambulatory medical practices” such as dentists, nutritionists, and physical therapists. “They are one of the identified target industries in our ED plan and we do see a lot of interest in those types of practices locating in Shaker,” says Menesse. Then there are the bona fide medical innovators. Shaker Life identified five of them, profiled here. They are committed to treating and researching treatments for Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and malaria, working to overcome the health disparities in African Americans, and even researching how to modify the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) so that it can safely be used to deliver specific proteins to diseased cells. The proximity of two major medical centers in University Circle, which employ thousands of health care professionals, is a large factor in the Shaker-ashome equation. The innovators we interviewed cite other reasons as well, notably the Shaker Schools. Moreover, Marco Costa, a native Brazilian who is president of University Hospitals Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute as well as UH’s chief innovation officer, told us, “In Shaker, the houses have character, and the people here have character. It’s a mix of urban and suburban lifestyle.” He was not alone in that assessment. It is comforting to recognize that Shaker Heights continues to attract men and women who work and succeed at making the world a better place. SHAKER LIFE | WINTER 2017 29


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