Cleveland Clinic’s quantum computing program has moved from a pilot phase to a fully operational “innovation engine” integrated with AI, according to Lara Jehi, MD, chief research information officer at the health system.
“It’s been a whirlwind, and we’ve made much more progress — and much faster — than we originally anticipated,” Dr. Jehi told Becker’s.
Cleveland Clinic started its quantum computing journey in 2021 when the organization formed a 10-year partnership with IBM to create a joint accelerator center to advance healthcare discoveries using AI and cloud computing. As part of that deal, IBM installed its first private-sector, on-premise quantum computing system in the U.S. at Cleveland Clinic. The quantum computer, dubbed IBM’s Quantum System One, is dedicated to healthcare research and was installed at the Lerner Research Institute on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.
Initially, the partnership focused on pairing Cleveland Clinic researchers with IBM researchers to develop quantum projects and answer life sciences questions. Over the past three years, Dr. Jehi said the program has matured significantly.
“We’ve built internal expertise and teams within Cleveland Clinic that specialize in applying quantum to life sciences,” she said. “Our relationship with IBM has evolved into more of a collaboration model, and we’re now working with additional partners as well.”
The quantum machine is now operating at more than 90% capacity, and at least two-thirds of users at any point are Cleveland Clinic researchers, with the remaining third made up of external collaborators.
“That shift shows how the program has evolved from a tentative pilot phase into a fully functioning innovation engine producing real breakthroughs,” Dr. Jehi said.
For example, one project focuses on circulating biomarkers in lung cancer patients.
“Today, patients typically return every few months for imaging scans to monitor recurrence,” Dr. Jehi said. “What we’re developing instead is a blood test that could potentially monitor recurrence through biomarkers. It sounds like science fiction, but it has very real implications for patient care.”
Cleveland Clinic has also upgraded the machine itself. The original system used IBM’s Eagle processor, and now it is operating with Heron, which has more qubits and significantly greater computational capacity. But one of the most important developments, according to Dr. Jehi, is that the quantum platform is now fully integrated with the health system’s AI and classical computing platforms.
“The work happening today combines AI and quantum together,” she said. “None of those capabilities or priorities existed at this level just a few years ago.”
Now, Cleveland Clinic is designing projects in which AI and quantum work together, and according to Dr. Jehi, that has been a driver in accelerating the program’s progress. One example involved a 12,600-atom protein simulation project in which AI first identified the most critical sections of a large compound before quantum computing simulated the structure and function of those sections. AI then reconstructed the full model.
Dr. Jehi said the same framework is now being applied to MRI image analysis, where AI isolates the highest-priority regions of scans before quantum computing processes those sections. She said the approach allows Cleveland Clinic to apply quantum computing to datasets that are currently too large for quantum hardware to process independently.
“Once we stopped thinking about it as ‘AI versus quantum’ and instead started treating quantum as one tool within a larger computational ecosystem, everything changed,” she said.
Over the past few years, Cleveland Clinic has also announced various partnerships in quantum computing spanning academia, workforce development, industry and government.
For workforce development, the health system partnered with Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, to develop undergraduate and graduate quantum-focused programs.
“Those students rotate through Cleveland Clinic labs and work directly with our teams because we need people who understand how to use this technology,” Dr. Jehi said.
Cleveland Clinic also has its Quantum Innovation Catalyzer Program, offering selected early- and venture-stage companies a yearlong residency on Cleveland Clinic’s main campus with access to IBM’s Quantum System One.
Cleveland Clinic also received two contracts through Wellcome Leap’s Quantum for Bio Challenge, which allocates up to $40 million to a global cohort of 12 researchers advancing quantum computing applications in healthcare.
“If you think about quantum as an ecosystem that has to come together for healthcare to fully benefit, we’re intentionally building partnerships across every part of that chain,” Dr. Jehi said.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.
