Eric Grigsby, M.D., Elected President of Mayo Clinic Alumni Association

Thursday, October 20, 2011

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Eric Grigsby, M.D., of Napa, Calif., was elected president of the Mayo Clinic Alumni Association at the group's biennial continuing medical education meeting held recently in Jacksonville, Fla.

Dr. Grigsby, who completed his training at the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education in 1988, is founding medical director of the Napa Pain Institute, and chief executive officer of Neurovations, a Napa company specializing in pain and neuroscience research and clinical education.

Dr. Grigsby led the Mayo Clinic Alumni Association Board in voting unanimously to establish the Mayo International Humanitarian Endowment to support programs that provide care to underserved patient populations around the world. Dr. Grigsby and his wife, Mary Rocca, also operate their foundation, HealthRoots, which provides care to underserved groups, most recently in Malawi, East Africa.

A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Dr. Grigsby formed his interest in medicine as a career while working at Boston Children's Hospital in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. He worked with children with severe spinal deformities, cerebral palsy, and other disabling orthopedic conditions. Although impressed with the orthopedic advances, he was distressed at the persistent pain and suffering apparent in these young patients.

Dr. Grigsby received a B.A. in Biology and Economics from Brown University and his medical degree from Boston University Medical School. After graduation in 1984, Dr. Grigsby trained in general surgery, anesthesiology and pain management at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. After five years of postgraduate training, he was invited to join the medical staff and teach at the Mayo Medical School, prior to his move to California.

Dr. Grigsby and his wife are currently enrolled at Duke University as students in the Duke Global MBA program, through the Fuqua School of Business.

The members of the 36-person Mayo Clinic Alumni Association Board of Directors are physicians and scientists who trained at Mayo Clinic. They are elected to serve the needs of alumni and to help further the mission of Mayo Clinic in patient care, research and education. Dr. Grigsby's term is for two years. He succeeds Mark Laney, M.D., of St. Joseph, Mo.

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