Delos Marshall "Toby" Cosgrove (born 1940) is an American

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

veteran and former heart surgeon. He served as the president and chief executive of the

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...

from 2004 until 2017.

Early life

Toby Cosgrove was born in 1940 in Watertown, New York and graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

, where he majored in history. He received an MD from the

University of Virginia School of Medicine The University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA SoM) is the graduate medical school of the University of Virginia. The school's facilities are on the University of Virginia grounds adjacent to Academical Village in Charlottesville, Virginia. ...

. He was an intern at the

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

, the Boston Children’s Hospital, and

Brook General Hospital The Brook General Hospital (originally, 1896–1948, the Brook Fever Hospital) was the westernmost of three hospitals simultaneously situated on Shooter's Hill in southeast London in the Royal Borough of Greenwich (the others were the Royal ...

in London, U.K.

Career

During the

, Cosgrove served as a surgeon in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. He was awarded the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

for his service. Cosgrove began working at the

in 1975. By 1989, he was appointed as the chairman of its Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He served as its president and chief executive from 2004 to 2017. Cosgrove practiced thoracic surgery until 2006. During the course of his career, he performed over 22,000 procedures. He served as the president of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery in 2000. He is a member of the

Society of Thoracic Surgeons The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is a Chicago, Illinois (US)-based medical specialty professional society in the field of cardiothoracic surgery Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the ...

, the

American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...

, and the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

. He also became a member of the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

in 2013. Cosgrove was offered the position of Secretary of the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

in 2014, but he turned it down. He was interviewed for the same position by president-elect

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

in December 2016. In December 2016, Cosgrove joined a business forum assembled by president-elect

to provide strategic and policy advice on economic issues.

Personal life

Cosgrove has a wife, Anita. He is dyslexic.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosgrove, Toby 1940 births Living people American health care chief executives United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War American cardiac surgeons Cleveland Clinic people People with dyslexia University of Virginia School of Medicine alumni United States Air Force officers Williams College alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine