2015 Black Professional of the Year Dr. Charles D. Modlin.
Charles Modlin, MD, MBA, is a Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Urologist and Founder and Director of the Minority Men’s Health Center of Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological Institute and is Executive Director of Minority Health for Cleveland Clinic, Medical Staff Officer and a member of Cleveland Clinic’s Board of Trustees and Incoming Member of Board of Governors.
In 1983, Dr. Modlin graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. with a degree in chemistry. He received his medical school education at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, graduating in 1987. He then moved to New York City, where he completed a six-year residency in urological surgery at New York University in 1993. He came to Cleveland in 1993, where he completed a three-year fellowship in basic science transplant immunology and clinical renovascular and renal transplantation surgery. In 1996, he joined the Staff of Cleveland Clinic’s Urological Institute with a joint staff appointment within the Transplant Center. He has authored scientific publications and presented scientific research at national meetings.
Dr. Modlin is not only the sole African American transplant surgeon in Ohio, but he represents one of only approximately 20 or fewer African American transplant surgeons in the entire United States.
A special area of interest of Dr. Modlin is the issue of healthcare disparities experienced by minority patients in the United States. Minority patients suffer a disproportionate burden of disease in many areas, such as prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and need for kidney transplantation. To this end, Dr. Modlin developed a dedicated Minority Men’s Health Center (MMHC) and additional elimination of health disparities initiatives at Cleveland Clinic. The MMHC provides direct patient care for all men, regardless of race or ethnicity and health literacy education, provides community outreach and conducts dedicated research into elimination of minority healthcare disparities.
Dr. Modlin is board-certified in urology and a member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the American Urological Association and the Urologic Society of Transplantation and Vascular Surgery. He is Chair of the 100 Black Men Health Committee and is a Board Member of Health Legacy of Cleveland, The National Medical Fellowship (which provides scholarships to medical students of color) and he also served two elected terms as an member of the Northwestern University Medical School Alumni National Board where is established an endowed scholarship for his medical school class of 1987. Dr. Modlin has held positions on the United Network of Organ Sharing Minority Affairs Committee and was the UNOS Representative from the National Medical Association. Other board activities have included the Shaker Schools Foundation, the Bellflower Center for Child Abuse and others.
Some of Dr. Modlins’ honors and notoriety include the 2006 Ohio Commission on Minority Health Leadership Award, Humanitarian Award from the Kappa Fraternity, 2006 National Physician of the Year Award from the National Technical Association, an Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University in recognition of his professional accomplishments and honor to his alma mater, 2015 Crain’s Business Weekly Physician Hero’s Award, 2013 Greater Cleveland Urban League Men of Excellence Award, Ohio Commission on Minority Health Leadership Award and several community leadership and service recognitions/awards and appearances on Cleveland television and radio newscasts, among others. Dr. Modlin was among the first inductees of the Inaugural Edition of “Cleveland’s Most Interesting” of Who’s Who in Black Cleveland and has received proclamations from Cleveland City Council and two Cleveland Mayors for his outstanding community outreach to the minority community and mentorship to children.
Other professional highlights include receiving the Cleveland MOTTEP Man of the Year Award in 2000 and named one of Cleveland’s 100 Most Influential by the Call & Post newspaper and in 2011 he was listed as one of America’s Top 21 Outstanding Black Doctors. Dr. Modlin plays trumpet for the Shaker Heights Community Band.
On the home front Dr. Modlin is the father of four children all academically and musically talented. Charles III (Trey) is a national chess champion and is a senior at Texas Tech University, Sarah a biology major and sophomore at the College of William & Mary, Hannah first chair clarinetist and senior and Meredith an artist and classics scholar sophomore at Shaker Heights High School.