Case Western Reserve graduates have launched companies like Dow Chemical and Lubrizol; won Nobel Prizes; transformed the ways we watch movies, pound pavement, and protect computers; and co-founded the nation’s No. 2 hospital, Cleveland Clinic, among myriad other accomplishments.
(CWR '98; GRS '98, computer engineering)
Google employee #23 and inventor of Gmail.
Credited with suggesting the company’s now-famous motto, “Don’t be evil,” in 2001.
Joe Russo (GRS '95, theater)
While graduate students at Case Western Reserve, the Russo brothers began work on Pieces, which they wrote, directed and produced.
Produced and directed Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War and numerous other films and television shows.
(LAW ’54)
Civil rights icon and attorney who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and defended Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin in landmark civil-rights cases.
Successfully represented plaintiffs against the U.S. government in the Tuskegee Experiment lawsuit. Founded the Tuskegee History Center.
(GRS ‘81, biochemistry, MED ‘83)
Physician, scientist and entrepreneur.
Creator of the first antivirus software, Vaccine, which later became Norton AntiVirus.
(FSM ’71, LAW ’74)
First African-American woman common pleas judge and county prosecutor in Ohio.
First African-American woman elected to represent Ohio in Congress.
(CIT ’50)
Engineer and inventor who held more than 250 patents.
Revolutionized the athletic footwear industry with his creation of the Nike Air Sole
(M.D. 1887 Wooster Medical College, which merged to form Case Western Reserve School of Medicine)
Surgeon and one of the founders of the Cleveland Clinic.
(FSM ‘72)
Television anchor and business journalist for Nightly Business Report, Forbes and other publications.
Recipient of the New York Financial Writers’ Elliott V. Bell Award for exemplary contributions to the field.
(GRS ’04, theater)
Successful television and film actor known for his work on Mad Men, in the role of Harry Crane.
(GRS ‘06, theater)
First Tony nominee from the Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program for her performance in Once.
(CIT ‘65, GRS ‘65, ‘74 physics)
Recipient of an Academy Award of Merit for innovations that led to the transformation of movies from film to digital technology. DLP projection technology, now the entertainment industry standard, is based on Hornbeck’s Digital Micromirror Devices.
Member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Developer of the first commercially available full-body CAT scan
(CSAS 1888)
Founder of Dow Chemical Company.
(GRS ‘52, biochemistry)
Biochemist who won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. His research brought greater understanding of recombinant DNA.
(MED ‘64; GRS ‘65, pharmacology)
Physician and co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work revealing the way nitric oxide acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.
(GRS ‘64, operations research)
Economist and co-winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in the field of macroeconomics.
(ADL ’67, HON ’03)
2017 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, recognized for his pioneering work in behavioral economics.
Author of Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics (2015).
(SAS ’62)
Held three White House appointments to National Institutes of Health committees.
(CIT ‘60)
Renowned mathematician, computer scientist and emeritus professor, Stanford University.
Author of The Art of Computer Programming and creator of the TeX formatting system and METAFONT.
(MED '79)
Pioneering researcher in women’s health who helped establish the fact that men’s and women’s reactions to diseases and drugs may be different.
A prolific researcher and writer who led the National Institutes of Health’s landmark Women’s Health Initiative involving 164,000 women.
(LAW ‘67)
Longtime executive at Warner Bros. Entertainment, serving as chairman and chief executive officer from 1999-2013.
(CIT ’75, GRS ’77)
Creator of Craigslist and philanthropist who supports veterans, teachers and efforts to fight online harassment.
(WRC '77, MED '81)
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2002-2009.
Former Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
(LAW ‘71)
Author of best-selling mystery novels Dark Lady and Silent Witness, among many others.
Trial attorney who was the Securities & Exchange Commission’s liaison to the Watergate Special Prosecutor.
(CWR ‘89)
Co-founder, chief brand officer and artist, Numi Organic Tea.
(GRS ’95, ’01, electrical engineering)
Bioengineer and technical director of The Kidney Project at University of California, San Francisco, a national research project working to develop a bioartificial kidney.
(LAW ’53)
Served 15 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the east side of Cleveland, Ohio.
Distinguished visiting professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.
(CIT'77)
NASA astronaut and veteran of four space flights.
Director of Operations for NASA at the Gargarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.