Dr. Marc Penn is a cardiologist, Director of Research and Program Director for the Cardiovascular Medicine
Fellowship at Summa Health Heart and Vascular Institute (Akron, OH). He is a Professor of Medicine and
Integrative Medical Sciences at Northeast Ohio Medical University (Rootstown, OH). From 2000-11 Dr. Penn
was a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic where he served as the Director of the Coronary Intensive Care Unit,
Director of the Experimental Animal Laboratory, Director of the Bakken Heart-Brain Institute, and the
Founding Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Cell Therapy.
Dr. Penn completed his undergraduate and postgraduate work at Case Western Reserve University completing a
Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 1989 and Doctor of Medicine in 1994. He completed his Internal Medicine
training at University Hospitals of Cleveland (1994-97) and his Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship at
Cleveland Clinic (1997-2000). He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine. During
his training he received numerous awards including the 2000 Joseph Cash Memorial Prize for Clinical
Outcomes Research and the 1999 Irvine H. Page Young Investigator award for Atherosclerosis Research
presented by the National American Heart Association. He has adjunct appointments at Case Western Reserve
University in Biomedical Engineering and in the Bioengineering Center at Cleveland State University.
Dr. Penn’s research has led to several discoveries in the field of cardiovascular medicine including in
diagnostics, strategies to optimize gene and stem cell therapy for regeneration of myocardial tissue, as well as
neuromodulation of cardiac function. Dr. Penn has organized and lectured at international symposia and
conferences, and is author or co-author of hundreds of articles, abstracts, book chapters and books on a wide
range of topics in basic and translation science, and clinical medicine.
Dr. Penn is an active inventor, serial entrepreneur and internationally recognized as an expert in translating
basic science research to clinical populations. He has generated intellectual property in the fields of diagnostics,
biologics and devices that has been licensed by numerous companies, having authored dozens of U.S. and
international patent applications. He is the founder of Juventas Therapeutics, Inc. (Cleveland, OH), a
regenerative medicine company founded on his intellectual property based on novel fundamental concepts of
endogenous stem cell mediated tissue repair pioneered by his group. As CMO of Juventas Therapeutics, Inc.
(2007-2016) he designed and executed the Phase II studies STOP-CLI, STOP-HF, RETRO-HF and designed
the STOP-PAD. His SDF-1 technology was optioned by Astellas Pharmaceutical in December of 2018. He was
co-founder and CMO of Cleveland Heart Lab, Inc. (Cleveland, OH), a revenue stage diagnostic company based
on biomarkers associated with coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and other inflammatory diseases.
Quest Diagnostics acquired Cleveland Heart Lab in December of 2017. He is a Senior Advisor to Quest
Diagnostics and serves as the Medical Director for the Quest Diagnostics Center of Excellence of
Cardiometabolic Testing at Cleveland Heart Lab. He is the Chief Medical Officer of Diasome, Inc. (Cleveland,
OH), Cambridge Science, Inc. (Boston, MA) and Keystone Bio, Inc. (St. Louis, MO).
From 2016-2019 as CEO of Black Beret Life Sciences, LLC (Houston, TX) where he oversaw the life science
investments and led the executive teams of numerous companies including Tissue Genesis, LLC, (Honolulu,
HI), Advanced Regen Medical Technologies, LLC, (Newark NJ), and the regenerative medicine treatment
center, Okyanos (Freeport Bahamas), as well as the sugar replacement Sola (Houston, TX).
He is an advisor and board member of numerous companies. He was the PI of the Athersys MultiStem in AMI
Phase I and II trials (Cleveland, OH), and served on the SMAB of NeuroTronik, Inc. (Raleigh, NC). He was a
Venture Partner with Oakwood Medical Investors (2004-2010, St. Louis, MO), a member of the Advisory
Board of Frantz Medical Ventures (2004-08, New York, NY), and a Clinical Partner with Foundation Medical
Partners (2009-11, New Canaan, CT) where he represented the interests of the Cleveland Clinic. He served on
the DSMB of the NIH Heart Failure Network since its inception. He was chair of the BOD of Cour Pharma
(2007-2010, Kalamazoo, MI), and served on the BOD of CardioVIP (2012-2014, Houston, TX) and Non-
Invasix (2016-2019 Houston, TX). He serves on the BOD of Rhythm Therapeutics (Chicago, IL), Keystone
Bio (St. Louis, MO) and Diasome (Cleveland, OH). From 2008-10 Dr. Penn was the Senior Medical Director
for Emerging Businesses at Cleveland Clinic. He was the 2006 Innovator of the Year, and in 2011 recognized
as one of the top 50 doctors in the history of the Cleveland Clinic (MedCity News).