“Mayo Clinic” is one of the best-known and most-trusted “brand names,” but its origin has more to do with our inherent values than with any sophisticated marketing plan.   Mayo is a family name. William Worrall Mayo, M.D., a frontier doctor, settled his young family in Rochester, Minn., when he was appointed as an examining surgeon for the Union Army during the Civil War. In the 1880s, his sons, William and Charles, finished medical school and joined his medical practice.   The opening of Saint Marys Hospital in 1889 helped fuel rapid growth in the family practice. Starting in 1892, the Doctors Mayo took on partners whose skills complemented their own. This development paralleled the growth of specialty fields in medicine.

Fortune magazine recently named Mayo Clinic to its 2009 “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, marking the sixth consecutive year that Mayo [...]

Mayo Clinic added a new Mayo One medical transport helicopter to its fleet late last fall. The new aircraft is Mayo’s first American Eurocopter EC145, which Mayo customized to incorporate many high-tech navigational features along with the latest in safety advancements. As it stands, the new Mayo One is one of the most advanced and well-equipped medical transport helicopters in the country. [slideshare id=984710&doc=mayo-one-1233682214366727-1] “Our goal is to elevate the standards for medical transport, both in terms of medical care and equipment and technology,” says Scott Zietlow, M.D., Mayo Clinic trauma surgeon and medical director of the Mayo One program. “With the introduction of the latest Mayo One aircraft, we have clearly achieved this by taking air medical transport services to a new and unprecedented level.”

Check out this video to learn why two Mayo Clinic neurologists, Eric Sorenson, M.D., and Brian Crum, M.D., choose to  research [...]

  More than 7,000 runners are expected on Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus Feb. [...]

“I saw your feature on the research you’re doing. I realize it’s preliminary, but is there any additional information you could send me?” I’m always surprised how many people contact us about ongoing research projects. Folks with chronic conditions or their family members tend to search the Web for new information about potential treatments. At times I’ve received over 200 e-mails in response to a single news release or story. Many ask when a project will transition from basic or applied research studies into a clinical trial. They want to participate if possible, but many simply want to know more about the research process.

Daniel Rothamel of Charlottesville, Va. tells his story of coming to Mayo Clinic for treatment of chronic ulcerative colitis. Here's an [...]

Mayo Clinic knows that support from families, friends, co-workers, neighbors or others is an important aspect of the healing process. Because of this, we offer our [...]

I work in Mayo Clinic’s Health Policy Center, planning and coordinating the center’s events.  

Mayo Clinic uses technology to connect patients with home, family and friends A group of high school guys trading stories, laughing and joking is nothing out of the ordinary. Tyler Olson, a 17-year-old junior at Lake Mills High School in Iowa, is usually right in the middle of such gatherings. But on Sept. 5, 2008, everything changed for Tyler. That evening, during the first play of a varsity football game, a tackle went wrong and landed him in the hospital with a spinal cord injury. The severity of Tyler’s condition required a transfer to Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester, Minn. And although there’s only about 80 miles between Lake Mills and Rochester, the confinement of a hospital room can make the two towns seem a world apart.

When Craig McMillan found a lump in his left breast while showering in September 2004, he didn’t think much of it. The 59-year-old insurance agent from Quincy, Fla., assumed it was a harmless, fatty cyst like others he had had. But the decision to mention it to his family physician during his annual physical may have saved his life. “My wife and I were extremely shocked to learn I had breast cancer,” McMillan says. “Like most men, I thought it was primarily a women’s disease, so I was in denial and didn’t think it could happen to me.”

Here's an excerpt of Lindsay Wood's story, which she submitted on the Share Your Mayo Clinic Story open comment thread. ...On my second visit [...]