• #FlashbackFriday 1996: Celebrating 10 years in Jacksonville

a 1987 photograph of Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida

This article first appeared in November 1996, in the publication Mayovox.

It was celebration time in Jacksonville Saturday, Oct. 12. Mayo Clinic Jacksonville was 10 years old, and the staff invited the public to a special party.

From mid-morning to mid-afternoon, about 1,200 guests participated in the event. They were entertained by a clown and a magician, ate anniversary cake and took self-guided tours of the facility.

Visitors learned how sleep problems are evaluated, how microwave energy can reduce enlarged prostates and how technology has changed surgery and improved radiation treatments.

Many guests attended one or more of the following presentations by members of the Mayo staff:

  • Alzheimer’s disease: Drs. Neill Graff-Radford, John Hardy and Steven Younkin
  • New techniques in cosmetic surgery: Dr. John Harris
  • Skin cancer and Mohs’ surgery: Dr. Henry Randle
  • Risk factors and available therapies for breast cancer: Dr. Edith Perez
  • The ABZs of sleep disorders: Dr. Joseph Kaplan
  • Outdoor exercise in Florida: heat exhaustion and hydration: Dr. Walter Taylor

When Mayo Clinic Jacksonville opened on Oct. 12, 1985, it was Mayo’s first extension beyond Rochester, Minn. The photo above is of the campus in April 1987. In the past 10 years, Mayo Jacksonville’s medical staff has grown from 35 to 185 physicians. More than 175,400 patients from 50 states and 75 countries have made 1.2 million visits to the clinic in the past 10 years.