Early years Mayo Clinic originated with the medical practice of
William Worrall Mayo, M.D. (1819–1911). Born near
Manchester, England, he was mentored by the eminent British scientist
John Dalton He worked his way west, earning two medical degrees at a time when formal education for physicians was limited. Both of W. W. Mayo's sons,
William James Mayo (1861–1939) and
Charles Horace Mayo (1865–1939), who became known as Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie, grew up in
Rochester and attended medical school. William graduated in 1883 and joined his father's practice, with Charles joining in 1888. On August 21, 1883, a
tornado struck Rochester, causing at least 37 deaths and over 200 injuries. One-third of the town was destroyed, but the Mayo family escaped serious harm. Relief efforts began immediately in a variety of makeshift facilities. Mayo was placed in charge of organizing medical care for the wounded survivors. Needing nurses, he reached out to
Mother Alfred Moes, the founder of the
Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota (a teaching order). Starting in the 1890s, the Mayo brothers welcomed other physicians to join them. W. W. Mayo's solo practice had evolved into a family practice with his sons' participation, which then became a group practice with other medical colleagues. Christopher Graham, Melvin C. Millet,
Henry Plummer, E. Star Judd, and
Donald Balfour. Preeminent among the early physicians who joined the practice was Henry Stanley Plummer, M.D. A specialist in thyroid disease, he made contributions to the treatment of goiter. Following World War II, Mayo Clinic continued to expand in Rochester, Minnesota. In 1972, the Mayo Medical School (now
Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine) opened. In 1986, Mayo Clinic formally united with Saint Mary's Hospital and Rochester Methodist Hospital. That same year, Mayo Clinic expanded to Florida partly because of a donation of 400 acres of land in Jacksonville from the Davis family. This was followed by expansion to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1987; the Phoenix, Arizona, campus opened in 1998. In 2011, Mayo Clinic launched the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a collection of facilities with access to Mayo Clinic protocols and experts. In November 2019, the Mayo Clinic, in a joint partnership with
SEHA Abu Dhabi Health Services Co, invested $50 million into a 741-bed hospital in the
United Arab Emirates for a 25% stake. At the beginning of 2020, the Mayo Clinic opened a health clinic in central
London, in partnership with
Oxford University Clinic. It was officially named Mayo Clinic Healthcare. In July 2020, it was reported that the Mayo Clinic had bought Oxford University Clinic's share of the facility, to become the sole owner and its first overseas clinic operated as a Mayo Clinic entity. Plummer's system enabled physicians to share patient information better. In 1905, Mayo Clinic advanced a technique of using frozen
tissue during surgery to determine if a patient had cancer while the patient was still in the operating room. Mayo Clinic offered the first graduate medical education program in 1915 and the first nonprofit practice aligned with medical education and research. Mayo Clinic opened the first hospital-based blood bank in Rochester in 1935. In the 1930s, Mayo Clinic associates Walter M. Boothby, Randolph Lovelace, and
Arthur H. Bulbulian developed a high-altitude oxygen therapy mask known as the BLB flight mask. During
World War II, the U.S. Army tasked Mayo Clinic with finding a solution for pilots dying after suffering blackouts. Mayo Clinic hired a team of physicians to research and define the specific physiologic effects causing blackout and unconsciousness during high G forces.
Physiologists
Earl H. Wood, Edward Baldes, Charles Code, and
Edward H. Lambert developed the
G-suit with air bladders that prevented blood from pooling in pilots' legs. Two Mayo Clinic physicians were among three people awarded the
Nobel Prize in medicine in 1950 for the discovery of
cortisone. Professor
Edward C. Kendall, Ph.D., and
Philip S. Hench of Mayo Clinic were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine alongside
Tadeus Reichstein, a Swiss chemist who conducted independent research, for the discovery. Later in the decade, Mayo Clinic began using and refining the Gibbon heart–lung machine in cardiac surgery. It is now known as the Mayo–Gibbon heart–lung machine. Mayo Clinic associates Edward Howard Lambert, Lealdes (Lee) McKendree Eaton, and Edward Douglas Rooke were the first physicians to substantially describe the clinic and electrophysiological findings of what is known as
Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome in 1956. In 1972, the clustering of LEMS with other autoimmune diseases led to the hypothesis that it was caused by autoimmunity. In 1969, Mayo Clinic doctors performed the first
Food and Drug Administration-approved hip replacement in the United States. In 1973, Mayo Clinic bought the first
CT scanner in the U.S. Mayo Clinic and Roche Molecular Biochemicals developed a rapid
DNA test in 2001 to detect anthrax in humans and in the environment. The
Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation was established in 2008 and has since worked on over 270 projects. In 2013, Mayo Clinic specialists in regenerative medicine began the "first-in-human study," whereby patient cells are used to attempt to heal heart damage. Mayo Clinic and Delos Living launched the
Well Living Lab in September 2015. This research facility is designed to simulate real-world, non-hospital environments, allowing Mayo Clinic researchers to study the interaction between indoor spaces and human health. Mayo Clinic's Advanced Care at Home Model of Care launched in 2020 and assists patients in their own homes through virtual care. In 2020, Mayo Clinic began running a federally sponsored Expanded Access Program for
Convalescent Plasma to treat hospitalized patients with
COVID-19 in the United States. In 2018, Mayo Clinic and UCLA used
spinal cord stimulation and physical therapy that allowed a man paralyzed since 2013 to briefly regain his ability to stand and walk with assistance. The patient was able to walk 111 yards for a total of 16 minutes when given artificial electrical stimulation, although he was unable to continue that mobility once the artificial stimulation was removed. The results were published in the journal Nature Medicine. As of 2023, Mayo Clinic had treated more than 10,000 patients with
proton beam therapy across two of its facilities. According to
Post-Bulletin reporting, proton beam therapy is limited in the U.S., with only 2 percent of radiation patients being treated with the technology. in
Rochester, Minnesota Architecture and art collection As the practice grew in the 20th century, it required additional space. Saint Mary's Hospital underwent frequent expansion. Rochester business leader John Kahler built innovative hotel-hospital facilities that served Mayo Clinic patients. The
General hospital features bronze entry doors designed by artist Charles Brioschi. Each , door weighs and features ornamental panels. The doors are closed to memorialize important historical events and influential people, such as the deaths of the Mayo brothers, the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the victims of the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 1914 "red brick" building, a National Historic Landmark, was demolished by Mayo Clinic in the 1980s to make way for the
Siebens Building (completed in 1989). Mayo Clinic's campus has undergone expansion over the years. Other notable Mayo Clinic buildings include the
Mayo Building (Rochester, Minnesota) (construction completed in 1955),
Guggenheim Building (1974),
Gonda Building (2001),
Opus Imaging Research Building (2007), and a recent addition in 2019 – the Discovery Square building. Image:Mayo Clinic Rochester Gonda w trees 3890p.jpg|Gonda Building entrance Image:Mayo Clinic-Gonda atrium-20060705.jpg|Gonda Building atrium Image:Mayo Clinic Gonda building 3997.jpg|Patient cafeteria dome Image:MayoClinicOpusBldg.JPG|Opus Imaging Research Building Image:MayoClinicGuggenheimBldg.JPG|Guggenheim Building Mayo Clinic's humanities program was founded on the belief that the arts and healing are linked. Over the decades, Mayo Clinic has established an extensive
art collection, including these works on display across all campuses: •
Endangered Species by
Andy Warhol • ''
John D'Aire'' by
Auguste Rodin •
Fish by
Alexander Calder •
Man and Freedom by
Ivan Meštrović • Untitled by
Dale Chihuly •
Four Houses by
Jennifer Bartlett •
The Archer by
Joan Miró •
My Brother and I by
Tuck Langland •
Constellation Earth by
Paul Granlund Educational programs The first medical, educational programs at Mayo Clinic were developed in 1915 with the assistance of the
University of Minnesota. MFMER was established as a department of the University of Minnesota with a $1.5 million donation to offer graduate programs at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education is part of the
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, which is divided into five schools. Those schools include Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Professional Development, and Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Current practice Mayo Clinic rules mandate that its CEOs must be physicians and come from within Mayo Clinic. John H. Noseworthy, M.D., served as president and CEO from 2009 to 2019. In 2018, Mayo Clinic announced that Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., a Mayo Clinic physician for more than 30 years, would replace Noseworthy as CEO. Farrugia had served as CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida since 2015. By 2018, Mayo Clinic doctors saw approximately 1.3 million patients annually. == Criticism ==