Michael Powell understands what it's like to be a patient with complex needs. While serving in the U.S. Army in 1987, an overseas training mission nearly took his life, leading to numerous surgeries and a full year of recovery. Today, he sits on the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees to honor the Army care team who treated him, teaching him firsthand the importance of coordinated care.

It was a lesson Michael never hoped to learn, but one he holds close to his heart today.

"The opportunity to be part of Mayo Clinic, a medical institution that is so committed to providing exceptional, lifesaving care, was irresistible," Michael says. "Mayo Clinic is a place where miracles can happen. Serving on the board has shown me that this is one of the finest, most thoroughly excellent institutions I've ever seen or been a part of."

Michael was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in March 1963 — the height of the civil rights movement. While his father was fighting in Vietnam, 5-month-old Michael and his mother, Alma Johnson Powell, were four blocks away when a bomb planted by members of the Ku Klux Klan exploded in the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four and injuring more than a dozen.

"The intersection of my mother's experiences during the civil rights movement and my father's in Vietnam certainly helped shape who I am today," Michael says. "Like every child, you get half of your formative life from one parent and half from the other."