Mayo Clinic Leadership Team visits Arizona State University

Friday, February 15, 2008

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Senior leadership from Mayo Clinic met Wednesday, Feb. 13, with leaders from Arizona State University (ASU) to review and celebrate achievements in collaborative research and medical education.

Mayo Clinic and ASU continue to foster an ever-growing relationship, with the goals of improving personalized medicine, health-care delivery, safety and quality and innovation. At the event, a series of interactive presentations highlighted many collaborative achievements from the 4-plus year partnership, including:

• Establishment of a seed grant program to encourage new collaborative research projects. Each project selected for funding requires an active, hands-on role by both Mayo Clinic and ASU investigators. Since 2004, more than 20 proposals have been funded, with nearly $750,000 in grants. The research sponsored under each seed grant will generate new competitive proposals to outside granting agencies and foundations, allowing further research of promising endeavors.

• Development of several collaborative educational programs, including M.D., J.D., MBA and graduate certificate programs—plus a Ph.D. program in the works.

• Ongoing research programs—pursuing diverse projects such as the development of a cancer vaccine, as well as new technology and techniques to aid in rehabilitation, learning and restoring independence to challenged individuals.

• An innovative joint nursing education program

• Fine arts programs that bolster the emotional and spiritual well being of patients — treating the whole person, not just the disease — through innovative theater, music and poetry.

Keynote speakers included Michael M. Crow, Ph.D., president, ASU; Denis A. Cortese, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic; and Victor F. Trastek, M.D., CEO, Mayo Clinic Arizona.

"We are proud to look back to see the achievements made to date in partnership with ASU," said Dr. Cortese. "We're excited about the groundwork laid for continuing advances in patient care, research and education over the years to come."

The day included a bus tour of ASU's Tempe campus and a visit to the biomedical campus in downtown Phoenix, as well as an afternoon reception with community leaders. This allowed event participants time to develop and enrich their collaborative relationships while learning more about this innovative partnership's achievements to date.

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Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 244-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.