2007 Highlights

Friday, March 14, 2008

Patient Care
* Mayo Clinic researchers in Jacksonville found that placing tiny, radioactive spheres directly into the liver halted the growth of tumors that had spread to the liver in 71 percent of patients in a clinical trial.

* A Mayo Clinic patient became the first in Arizona to be implanted with a lightweight heart pump that will keep his heart beating at nearly full capacity and result in improved quality of life. The pump, called a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), was implanted along the patient's heart to provide permanent support for the patient, who was unable to get a transplant.

* Mayo Clinic designed a new system to speed critical care to acute heart attack patients that saves both heart muscle and patient lives.

* In June 2007, the Mayo Clinic T. Denny Sanford Pediatric Outpatient Center opened its doors in the Mayo Building in Rochester. The new center brings together pediatric subspecialty staff and services into a single location dedicated to children.

* The Mayo Health System Practice-Based Research Network, a unique collaboration between community-based health care organizations and Mayo Clinic, was created. The initiative will help Mayo Clinic better understand the health care needs in surrounding communities, and help local practices provide research opportunities to community physicians and their patients.

* In January 2007, conjoined twins Abygail and Madysen Fitterer underwent separation surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. This was the third set of conjoined twins to undergo separation surgery at Mayo in less than a year.

Research

* Mayo Clinic Cancer Center opened a new clinical trial testing an engineered measles virus as a treatment for multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the white blood cells.

* Researchers from Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville campus discovered that the loss of the gene known as progranulin can lead to the build up of toxic proteins in the brain, resulting in a common dementia.

* Mayo Clinic began collaborating with Sun Health Research Institute and the Arizona Parkinson's Disease Consortium to examine how some patients with Parkinson's disease may transition to an intermediate stage of cognitive problems before they develop dementia, which can be a complication associated with Parkinson's.

* Findings of a Mayo Clinic study show that a computerized mail and phone reminder program can significantly increase the percentage of patients receiving preventive health services and improve the value of health care.

* Researchers in Jacksonville began a national comprehensive study that combines two drugs to target an aggressive form of breast cancer. This first major clinical study of its kind will look at the safety and benefit of adding lapatinib (Tykerb) to trastuzumab (Herceptin) for the treatment of early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

* Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators from the National Institutes of Health and University of Oslo, Norway, discovered that a miscue of the body's genetic repair system may cause Huntington's disease, a fatal condition that destroys the nervous system.

* Collaboration between Mayo Clinic and IBM resulted in technology to dramatically speed the processing of 3-D medical images.

* Mayo Clinic researchers identified the first biomarker that appears to play a role in prostate cancer development and in predicting cancer recurrence and progression after surgery.

* Researchers found that a human antibody administered in a single low dose in laboratory mouse models can repair myelin, the insulating covering of nerves that when damaged can lead to multiple sclerosis and other disorders of the central nervous system.

Education
* Mayo Clinic's Multidisciplinary Simulation Center became one of 11 advanced, comprehensive simulation centers in the United States to be accredited by the American College of Surgeons.

* A gift of $10 million from the Stephen and Barbara Slaggie Family Foundation provided for an endowment that will fund the yearly operating expenses for the Cancer Education Center.

* Mayo Clinic allocated $1.3 million to develop a new Health Science Careers Center, in collaboration with Rochester Public Schools and Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC).

* Mayo Clinic continued to develop an enterprise learning system. The system is a sophisticated computer infrastructure — validated by Mayo Clinic experts — that will efficiently store, retrieve and distribute clinical knowledge.

* Mayo Clinic reported excellent 2007 Match Day results for its medical students and its residency and fellowship training programs. Ninety-two percent of Mayo Medical School students matched to their top residency training program choice.

Honors and Achievements
* In January 2007, Mayo Clinic was named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by Fortune magazine in its annual compilation of companies that "rate high with employees."

* Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester was named one of the top 50 hospitals in the nation based on results from the first Leapfrog Top Hospital Quality and Safety Survey.

* In June, Mayo Clinic celebrated its 20-year anniversary in Arizona. The practice, which began in 1987 with 42 physicians and 225 allied health staff, now has more than 300 physicians and 4,000 support staff members, and serves more than 100,000 patients in the Southwest each year.

* Mayo Clinic's stroke center in Jacksonville earned Comprehensive Stroke Center certification by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Only five other stroke centers in Florida have received this designation.

* The Mayo Clinic Heart Transplant Program in Arizona received Medicare certification for heart transplantation, the highest quality indicator for a transplant program.

* For the third consecutive year, Mayo Clinic received a Gold Award from the National Business Group on Health, a national nonprofit organization, for its commitment to providing a healthy work environment and encouraging employees to live healthier lifestyles.

* Mayo Clinic was redesignated as a Magnet hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The Magnet program was developed to recognize health care organizations that provide nursing excellence.

* In August 2007, the new Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center opened on the Rochester campus. The 115,000-square-foot wellness facility for employees is supported by a generous gift from Dan Abraham, founder of SlimFast International.

* The Mayo Clinic Imaging Research Center opened in Rochester in September 2007. Construction of the 40,000-square-foot building was supported with funds from The Opus Group and a National Institutes of Health grant of $2.4 million.

* Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center released its recommendations to improve American health care to members of Congress and others involved in health care reform. The recommendations included individual ownership of insurance for all.

* The North Central Cancer Treatment Group, a clinical research group based at Mayo Clinic, received a $34.4 million renewal grant from the National Cancer Institute.

Giving Back to Our Communities
* Mayo Clinic has partnered with Phoenix Indian Medical Center (PIMC) for more than three years to provide health care at the PIMC Cancer Clinic. Mayo clinical research coordinators have also been added to the care team to support the activation of cancer clinical trials, furthering care options for Native American patients.

* In an effort to fill a significant gap in the breast care of underserved women, physicians and nurses at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville developed a program, still ongoing, to help overcome barriers that prevent women from receiving timely care after an abnormal mammogram.

* Mayo Clinic pledged $325,000 to the clean-up and recovery effort in Southeast Minnesota following the summer floods. Mayo also donated medical and pharmaceutical supplies, offered assistance from Mayo health professionals trained in disaster response and recovery, and provided office equipment, tables and chairs to replace items destroyed by the flood. Mayo employees also participated in volunteer cleanup and rebuilding efforts.

* A team of 38 Mayo Clinic employee volunteers traveled to New Orleans to provide specialty medical and nursing support during the city's Health Recovery Week. The Mayo Clinic team, in cooperation with Remote Area Medical and Operation Blessing, operated a free medical clinic serving patients from areas of New Orleans that were hit the hardest by post-Hurricane Katrina flooding.

* The Mayo Clinic Center for Translational Science Activities (CTSA) joined the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh in a unique program called "Take a Health Professional to the People Day," which sends teams of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and health educators to community gathering places in Pittsburgh to deliver lifesaving information and health screenings.

* Gold Cross Ambulance, a service of Mayo Clinic Medical Transport, donated ambulances to the Clear Lake Fire Department and the Midway Township first responders to assist them in ensuring that adequate resources are available for a timely response to emergencies in the surrounding communities.

Click here for the financial highlights

Click here for the 2007 accomplishments

###

To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.