William Worrall Mayo (WW Mayo), was born in England in 1819, studied chemistry and migrated to United States in 1845. He first worked as a pharmacist in New York, and then as a tailor in Indiana, before turning to medicine in 1850s. Initially trained at Indiana, and then at Missouri, WW Mayo graduated in medicine in 1854. Malaria drove him, his wife and two children further west. After a couple of odd jobs, and one more son later, he set up a solo medical practice in Rochester in 1863.
The Mayos
He was made more famous by his two sons, William James Mayo (WJ Mayo, b1861) and Charles Horace Mayo (CH Mayo, b1865). For next 20 years, senior Mayo continued his practice, intermittent odd jobs, and brief forays into politics. Mayo brothers, assisted their father in his practice, and by 1883 WJ Mayo had also earned his medical degree from University of Michigan Medical School. Same year, a tornado stuck Rochester, Mayo family and Sisters of St Francis got together, and they were engaged in relief work.
First Modern Group Practice
In 1889 Sr WW Mayo was 70, and both his sons William and Charles had completed their initial medical education (CH Mayo had also graduated in 1888). Sisters of St Francis offered to set up a hospital. Together, they built a 12-bed St. Marys Hospital with the three Mayo doctors as surgeons, and the Sisters of St. Francis as staff. This grew as a predominant surgical family-practice. In 1892, they invited a physician Augustus W. Stinchfield to join them. Over next decade, other partners (Christopher Graham, E. Starr Judd, Henry Stanley Plummer, Melvin Millet, and Donald Balfour) were also invited to join. This was the first modern privately owned group practice.
St Mary’s hospital was now called Mayo’s clinic by the locals. It was an early adopter of newer methods in technology. The clinic had sterilization in its operation theaters, followed Lister’s techniques of asepsis, had one of the first X-ray installations, pioneered many surgical instruments, and techniques. As the patient outcomes improved, the clinic gained in popularity. In 1914 it formally adopted the name “Mayo Clinic” and by 1915 also set up a first residency training at the clinic.
Mayo Foundation
WW Mayo had passed away in 1911 at an age of 92. Group practice had grown in stature as well as in numbers. Transformation came in 1914, when all partners agreed to form a not-for-profit Mayo foundation. Together they transferred all assets (worth more than 100 million dollars today) to the foundation. The deed of gift, signed on 8th October 1919, changed the fate of the clinic. Further, in 1915 the Mayo brothers gave $1.5 million to the University of Minnesota to establish the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research at Rochester. Together, these actions became a catalyst for further growth. Mayo brothers passed away in 1939, but their legacy lives on.
Today, Mayo Clinic is top ranked hospital in the world. The network employs over 5500 physicians and scientists, 83,000 staff members, and cares for more than 1.5 million patients from over 136 countries annually. With more than 2000 solid organ transplants in a year, its annual income is about 1.29 billion USD. The value system of Mayo Clinic is reflected in the acronym RICH TIES for Respect, Integrity, Compassion, Healing, Teamwork, Innovation, Excellence and Stewardship.