In 2021, the surgeon general warned of an emerging national youth mental health crisis. Yet, even as awareness grows, 1 in 5 adolescents report a lack of mental health support.  

"Mental health drives quality of life. It's also associated with your risk of chronic diseases, like heart disease," says Dr. Brian Lynch, a pediatrician at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "Mental health during adolescence predicts mental health as an adult, so it's a critical time to intervene."  

The challenges affecting Mayo Clinic communities reflect nationwide trends.  

Mental health was identified as a key priority in the most recent Community Health Needs Assessments for Mayo Clinic in Florida, Mayo Clinic in Rochester and many Mayo Clinic Health System sites.  

Among young people, girls are experiencing especially high rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts — nearly twice the rate of boys.  

"The stressors of peers, family expectations, social media — these seem to be affecting girls differently," says Dr. Lynch, the Community Health Needs Assessment physician director for Olmsted County, Minnesota, which includes Rochester. "It's a major concern."  

Through community grants and volunteer efforts, Mayo Clinic supports two organizations that help girls build confidence, coping skills and resilience. 

Pace Center for Girls in Florida 

When girls arrive at the Pace Center for Girls, they're often struggling academically, socially, emotionally — or all three. At each of the center's 16 Florida locations, the Reach Program provides no-cost counseling wherever girls feel most comfortable, whether at home, the library or a local park. 

"We believe all girls, regardless of their story, deserve safe, supportive spaces to heal and help them become strong, compassionate and successful women," says Erica Wortherly, the Reach Program director.  

Many of the girls, ages 11–17, have experienced life-altering challenges, such as sexual abuse, trafficking and homelessness. Some have a parent who is incarcerated or absent due to substance use. Nearly all wouldn't have access to mental health care without Pace.   

Given these complex needs, counseling alone isn't always enough. A 2026 Mayo Clinic Community Contributions grant has enabled Pace to offer psychiatric services — diagnosis, medication management, follow-up visits — at no cost to girls who need it.  

Psychiatric services are also available to participants in Pace's Day Program, which provides academic and mental health services in a classroom setting. 

With Mayo's assistance, "we're helping girls get to know themselves and receive the loving support they need to build relationships, develop healthy coping skills and look toward the future," says Wortherly. "Psychiatric services give that additional level of support."  

Another recent Mayo Clinic grant provided books for the Jacksonville, Florida, center's library, which opened earlier this year and will host a book club for girls in Pace programs.     

Girls on the Run in Minnesota 

Every fall and spring, hundreds of girls gather near Mayo Clinic in Rochester for the Girls on the Run 5K. But before they start running or walking, they need "happy hair." 

"The girls use all those fun hairsprays — pink, red, blue — to color their hair," says Amanda Neve, a pediatric nurse supervisor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and coach for Heart & Sole, the Girls on the Run program for middle schoolers. "A lot of times, they make their running buddy do it too." 

The result? Dads with neon beards and moms with rainbow hair running alongside their girls.  

This nontimed event caps off the Girls on the Run season, which combines physical activity with social-emotional learning for girls in grades 3–8. In addition to the Rochester race, 5Ks are held in the Twin Cities and Duluth, Minnesota.  

This year, a Mayo Clinic Community Contributions grant provided scholarships for the after-school program, giving more girls the opportunity to learn about boundary-setting, relationships and emotional regulation while forming new friendships.    

"At first, they're often hesitant to talk," says Neve. "By the end of the season, they open up a lot more and have the skills to handle scenarios in real life."  

The race reinforces this confidence in a tangible way.  

Kristi Pogatchnik, the development director for the Girls on the Run Minnesota council, recalls one girl who exclaimed, "I'm a doer!" at the end of the event. When her dad asked why, she explained that she'd always thought of herself as a watcher. Now, she knew that wasn't true.  

This inner shift exemplifies the Girls on the Run mission.  

"When they cross that finish line, it's like, 'Wow, I just did that. What else can I do?'" says Pogatchnik. "It takes a whole community to support girls in this way. We're so grateful for all that Mayo does."  

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Physicians-in-training explore how emerging technologies, including humanoid robots, could help support healthcare teams and improve patient care 

In a simulation lab at Mayo Clinic in Florida, a humanoid robot carefully retrieves medical supplies, organizes equipment and helps prepare a cardiac catheterization laboratory. 

The robot moves slowly, and its capabilities are still being tested. But for the physicians gathered around it, the project represents something much larger than robotics. 

It’s one example of how Mayo Clinic residents are gaining hands-on experience evaluating how emerging technologies might support healthcare teams – all while keeping clinical judgment, decision-making and patient care firmly in human hands. Through Mayo Clinic's Internal Medicine Residency Innovation and Entrepreneurship Track, residents work alongside engineers, innovators and industry collaborators to evaluate new ideas and address real-world healthcare challenges. 

Developing new skills to solve healthcare challenges 

The resident-led project is exploring whether humanoid robots could someday assist with routine tasks in cardiovascular care settings. 

While the technology is still in the early stages of development, residents and faculty with Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education are exploring how robots might support healthcare professionals with tasks such as organizing supplies, retrieving equipment and helping prepare procedure rooms. The goal is not to replace clinical expertise, but to evaluate whether technology could assist with activities that occasionally require a member of the care team to step away from other responsibilities.  

For Guy Robinson, M.B.B.S., a resident in the innovation track, the project provided an opportunity to learn skills far outside traditional medical training. 

"I had zero coding knowledge," Dr. Robinson says. "I didn't understand the language at all." 

Working with the robot manufacturer, Mayo Clinic engineers and fellow residents, Dr. Robinson spent weeks learning programming fundamentals and experimenting with code. Early successes were modest. 

"At first, simply getting the robot to move its arm felt like a major accomplishment," he says. 

Within a month, however, the team had advanced to programming more complex actions with the help of artificial intelligence-assisted coding tools. 

Learning how innovation happens 

According to Abdallah El Sabbagh, M.D., director of the Internal Medicine Residency Innovation and Entrepreneurship Track, projects like this grow out of Mayo Clinic's broader culture of innovation. 

Residents participate in educational programs, mentorship opportunities and hands-on projects designed to help them identify challenges in healthcare and explore potential solutions. 

One of those experiences is Mayo Clinic's Clinical Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, which brings together physicians, innovators and other collaborators to help transform ideas into practical applications. 

"CIE helped change the way I think about innovation," Dr. Robinson says. "It emphasized that innovation is not simply having an idea but identifying a real clinical need and then taking practical steps toward implementation." 

Rena Hale, Ph.D., director of the Clinical Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, says helping learners connect unmet needs with practical solutions is a central focus. 

"Dr. Robinson brought that curiosity with him, and through the program developed the skills and confidence to act on it," Dr. Hale says. "Whether designing a new technology or exploring the potential of humanoid robotics, the underlying question remains the same: How can we make healthcare better for patients and the teams who care for them?" 

That mindset shaped the robotics project from the beginning. 

Rather than starting with the technology and searching for potential uses, the innovation team first engaged physicians and catheterization laboratory staff to better understand day-to-day workflows and identify areas where additional support might be valuable. Those conversations highlighted several routine tasks that can require team members to briefly step away during busy procedural workflows. 

That input helped define the problem the team was trying to address and identify practical use cases for early proof-of-concept testing. Residents, engineers and innovation leaders then worked together to develop and evaluate robotic workflows based on those frontline insights. 

A model for innovation training 

Mayo Clinic's approach recently received national attention. 

In an article for the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, physician leaders highlighted the growing need for innovation education during clinical training and pointed to Mayo Clinic's Internal Medicine Residency Program in Florida as an example of how residents can gain meaningful experience evaluating new technologies and developing solutions for healthcare challenges. 

The robotics project demonstrates what that type of training can look like in practice. 

Residents from multiple Mayo Clinic campuses have contributed to the effort. Dr. Robinson helped lead hands-on programming work in Florida, while Kiyan Heybati, M.D., a Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine graduate and current resident in Rochester, continued contributing remotely. Mayo Clinic engineers provided technical expertise, and innovation leaders helped connect residents with resources and mentorship. 

Together, residents, engineers, innovation leaders and frontline clinical staff contributed perspectives that helped move the project forward, combining technical expertise with firsthand understanding of the clinical environment. 

"Residents understand the clinical implications,” Dr. El Sabbagh says. “They can work closely with software engineers and bring ideas forward." 

The project also highlights how innovation opportunities can appeal to learners with a wide range of interests. Some residents enter training with backgrounds in technology or entrepreneurship. Others discover those interests during residency and gain the confidence to pursue them. 

Dr. El Sabbagh says the goal is not for every resident to become a programmer or entrepreneur. Instead, residents learn how to identify meaningful problems, collaborate across disciplines and evaluate how new ideas might be implemented safely and effectively in healthcare settings. 

For Dr. Robinson, that experience has expanded his understanding of what it means to train at Mayo Clinic. 

"I realized that we deliver the best care in the world because we also advance care the most," he says. "That's what makes this place special." 

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DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I'm getting a new driver's license and am thinking about checking the "organ donor" box for the first time. I don’t know anyone who’s been an organ donor, and my family and friends haven’t talked about this. Can anyone donate? 

ANSWER: People of many ages, backgrounds and health histories may be eligible to become organ donors. More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ transplant, but the number of available donor organs falls far short of the need. Broadening the pool of registered organ donors gives more patients the opportunity to receive a lifesaving transplant before their disease progresses. 

The goal of transplantation is to save lives, improve quality of life and help patients with end-stage organ failure. While transplantation has become a well-established medical therapy over the past several decades, many people still see it as something that's out of reach for them or only available to a select group of patients. Increasing awareness about transplantation and organ donation can encourage more people to consider becoming donors. 

Many people mistakenly believe organs are matched based on race, population group or sex. But that's not the case. Transplant teams first evaluate medical factors such as the height and weight of the donor and recipient, as well as blood type and other clinical criteria. If organs are medically compatible, they can be successfully transplanted between people of different races, cultural backgrounds and sexes. 

The importance of a broad donor pool

A broad donor pool remains important because of people's immune systems. Every person has a special combination of antibodies, and transplant teams compare antibody profiles between donors and recipients to reduce the risk of organ rejection. Some antibody patterns are more common in certain populations than others. A larger donor pool offers a wider range of antibody profiles, increasing the likelihood of finding compatible matches for patients from different backgrounds. 

For some transplant candidates, antibodies significantly narrow the number of organs they can safely receive. If a patient has antibodies that would reject half of all potential donor organs, only the remaining half may be suitable for transplantation. That smaller pool of compatible organs often means a longer wait for a transplant. Expanding the donor pool increases the chances of finding a compatible organ sooner, which can be lifesaving for patients with advanced organ failure. 

Increasing the number of registered donors can help more patients find compatible organs sooner. Some communities may experience challenges that make it more difficult to receive transplant evaluations or advanced medical therapies.  

In addition, certain inherited conditions, such as cardiac amyloidosis, which can lead to organ failure, occur more frequently in some populations. Increasing organ donation awareness and participation across all communities helps ensure that more patients have the opportunity to benefit from transplantation. 

Common misconceptions

Education also plays an important role in addressing misconceptions about organ donation. One common myth is that only young or perfectly healthy people can become donors. However, the medical team evaluates every potential donor individually at the time of donation. While some organs have age-related considerations, many organs and tissues from older adults can still save or improve the lives of others. For that reason, people shouldn't assume they're too old or unhealthy to register as donors. 

Another misconception is that organ donation only benefits someone with a similar background. That's not the case. Donated organs are allocated to the most appropriate medical match based on established clinical criteria. A donor's race, cultural background or sex doesn't determine who receives an organ. The focus is always on providing the best match for a successful transplant. 

Increasing public awareness about transplantation and organ donation remains an important priority. Compared with other major health conditions, organ transplantation receives relatively little public attention. More education can help people understand the donation process, overcome common misconceptions and encourage conversations with family members about their wishes. 

As you know, registering as an organ donor is often as simple as checking "yes" when applying for or renewing a driver's license or signing up through an official organ donor registry. Be sure to discuss your decision with family members so they understand your wishes. 

Organ donation is a selfless act that has the power to transform lives. Every additional donor increases the chances of finding compatible matches, helping more patients receive the gift of a healthier future. 

Juan Carlos Leoni-Moreno M.D, FACC, FHFSA,Transplant Cardiology, Transplant Center, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic researchers have developed an experimental drug with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to target the "undruggable" PDZ-domain of GIPC1 protein that helps different types of cancer, including pancreatic cancer, to grow and resist treatment. In laboratory studies, the drug slowed tumor growth, improved survival and enhanced the effects of the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine.

The findings, published in Cell Reports, also demonstrate how AI could help develop a small molecule inhibitor of a target protein that can be less toxic and speed the discovery of new cancer treatments.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat because it is often diagnosed after it has spread and is resistant to many current therapies. While survival rates remain low, advances in research are creating new opportunities to develop more effective treatments. This study represents one of those promising advances, offering a potential new strategy for targeting pancreatic cancer.

Using AI, in collaboration with Sravathi AI Technology for IP Sharing, a company based in Bangalore, India, the research team screened nearly 40,000 potential compounds before identifying one that blocks GIPC1. The experimental drug also showed early signs of changing the environment around tumors in ways that could improve future combination therapies. Additional studies are needed before it can be tested in people.

"Pancreatic cancer has remained exceptionally difficult to treat because tumors rapidly adapt and become resistant to many available therapies," says Debabrata (Dev) Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D., senior author of the study and a cancer researcher at Mayo Clinic in Florida. "Our study demonstrates that AI can help us identify entirely new therapeutic opportunities against targets that have historically been considered undruggable. While these findings are preclinical, they provide a strong foundation for the next phase of research."

The therapy remains experimental, and additional studies are needed to evaluate its safety and determine whether it can advance to clinical trials.

This research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, the Florida State Fund for the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program and the U.S. Department of Defense. For a complete list of authors, disclosures and funding, review the study.

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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contact:

• Julie Ferris-Tillman, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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For patients waiting for a kidney transplant, finding a compatible donor can take time. A paired kidney donation program can make transplantation possible, even when a donor isn't a direct match. That's what reunited two former high school classmates, now teachers, and gave one of them a new kidney and a new lease on life.

Watch: Teachers connect beyond the classroom through paired kidney donation

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:33) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"I kind of always knew I needed a new kidney," says Shannon Williams, a 50-year-old elementary school teacher in Leesburg, Florida.

Shannon Williams spent 15 years living with polycystic kidney disease. When dialysis became a reality, she knew she couldn't wait any longer for a transplant.

"I've got to find my own match, so I started looking," says Shannon.

Then, a social media post reached an old friend.

"I didn't know that she had been sick initially," says Kelly Harrington.

"I went to school with Kelly back in high school. We twirled together, and I was a senior; she was a freshman," says Shannon.

"Shannon and I both teach in the same school district," says Kelly.

"Kelly called me, and she said, 'I want to see if I'm a match for you.' She was a match, except for the antibodies," says Shannon.

Although Kelly couldn't donate directly to Shannon, a kidney paired exchange program offered another path.

"Someone may not be appropriate to donate to a particular recipient, but they are a fantastic donor to someone. And so the kidney goes into a national matching pool," says Dr. Shennen Mao, a Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon. "Once a match is found, the kidney is donated to an intended recipient, and our recipient gets a kidney in return."

"When I realized that I could still help Shannon, potentially save her life, give her a longer life, give her a healthier life, it was a bonus," says Kelly.

Then, in January 2026, there was a life-changing phone call.

"(Transplant coordinators) called and said they had a match," says Kelly. "I don't recall ever crying so hard in my life. It was overwhelming, absolutely overwhelming."

Shannon and Kelly drove two hours from their homes in Central Florida to Jacksonville, where the surgeries took place at Mayo Clinic. One of Kelly's kidneys was sent to someone else in need.

"Shannon received a living donor kidney back through the kidney paired exchange program," says Dr. Mao. "It worked right away on the operating room table."

Not long after surgery, Shannon and Kelly were reunited.

"They wanted me to walk right away," says Shannon. "Kelly and I were two doors down from each other, so we got to walk the halls together — just us and our walkers strolling down the hallway."

"That first walk, we felt like superstars," says Kelly. "All of the staff members were just helping us and supporting us."

"The ability and the impact that we can make on our patients is what drives me, both as a transplant surgeon and also as a scientist, to think about the solutions for the future, so that we can help more patients like Shannon," says Dr. Mao.

Before the end of the school year, Shannon and Kelly returned to their classrooms.

"To know that she literally saved my life, I will always be grateful to her," says Shannon. "I always tell her she's my angel."

The post Teachers connect beyond the classroom through paired kidney donation (VIDEO) appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

After serving others for 40 years through a legal career and now as a pastor and yoga teacher, Sandra Hedrick has led a life helping people. 

"I don't know what draws me to want to help people," she says. "I'm sure it's in my genes, but I really don't know."  

A self-described joyful yet introverted person, Sandra felt her busy life of mindfulness and gratitude stall three and a half years ago when an unexpected sinus issue developed. That fall, she and her husband were on a trip to see the changing leaves in North Carolina when she realized she could not breathe out of her right nostril.   

After her trip, Sandra visited internal medicine physicians about her sinus problem, who referred her to Dr. Osarenoma Olomu, an otolaryngologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida, for further evaluation.  

After a biopsy, pathology results showed the mass was esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB), a rare cancer also known as olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB). According to the National Cancer Institute, ONB affects approximately 1 in every 2.5 million people.   
 
Surgery was scheduled immediately following MRI confirmation of the size and location of the mass. 
 
"ONB is a fairly challenging mass to deal with because of where it lies: right at the base of the nose between the nasal airway and the brain," explains Dr. Olomu.  
 
As one of the nation's highest-volume centers for advanced head and neck cancers, Mayo Clinic in Florida manages complex and rare cases with precise, minimally invasive procedures. 

For Sandra's surgery, Dr. Olomu partnered with Dr. Kaisorn Chaichana, a neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic in Florida, to perform an endoscopic resection and reconstruction through the nose.  

"This advanced approach allowed us to precisely remove the tumor while protecting the rest of the brain," explains Dr. Chaichana. "We worked together to resect and reconstruct at the same time." 

After surgery, Sandra had a course of radiation and two rounds of chemotherapy to conclude her initial treatment. Despite the physical discomfort she felt during this time, Sandra looks back on her postoperative treatment with fondness for her care team.  

"I experienced kindness in every way," she says. "The staff were highly professional and kind. They were just a joy to be with, even under the circumstances." 

Mayo Clinic care teams solve complex medical challenges, like Sandra's, by taking an approach that puts the patient at the center and incorporates experts from multiple medical disciplines. 

"When you work with a high-level team, you can make rare things not so rare," says Dr. Olomu. "Our team works together all the time as part of a nationally recognized center, so for a disease like ONB, we know a care pathway." 

After treatment, Sandra returned to her vocation as a pastor with reaffirmed compassion and a keener listening ear. She also participates in online ONB forums and conferences, connecting with others who share this uncommon bond and encouraging one another.  

Sandra approaches her follow-up scans with confidence that she is supported by a kind, caring and knowledgeable team. She is happy to return to life as a wife, friend and grandmother.   

"Being alive is nice, of course," says Sandra. "But I am not on any mission to accomplish anything. I want to thrive in my ordinary life. And that's what Mayo Clinic gave me." 

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After years of living with Crohn's disease and trying treatments that didn't work, Amy Marshak felt she was running out of options. The chronic illness affected her career, her energy and the everyday family moments she cherished most. At Mayo Clinic, she found a new treatment approach and renewed hope for the future.

Watch: A mom's journey beyond Crohn's disease and back to the moments that matter

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:35) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

"I first started noticing symptoms of my Crohn's disease in the fall of 2018," Amy recalls.

She is a lawyer, a wife and a mom of two.

"It was about six months after my younger daughter was born," Amy says. "She's really never known me as a parent without Crohn's."

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition that can cause abdominal pain, weight loss and digestive issues.

"It's really difficult day-to-day living with Crohn's because of the amount of pain I experienced," Amy says. "It really felt like I could do one or the other, be a lawyer or be a mom, to have the energy to do either of those things."

Amy had a portion of her colon and small bowel removed, then went through a series of medications.

"Some of them worked for a short period of time, and then I developed antibodies to them and would never work again," Amy says. "I was sort of at the end of all the options that exist because my Crohn's disease is spread throughout my small intestine."

Months turned into years.

"I worked so hard to find a solution to make Crohn's disease livable but felt no closer to a solution than I was before," Amy says. "I did some research, spoke with my doctor, and they suggested coming to Mayo Clinic." 

In July 2024, Amy traveled to Jacksonville, Florida, to meet Dr. Jana G. Al Hashash, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist.

"She really did want something cutting-edge and something different," recalls Dr. Al Hashash, who has collaborated closely with colleagues, including Dr. Ernesto Ayala, a hematologist and oncologist, to treat refractory Crohn's disease.

"What we're performing here is a newer protocol," says Dr. Al Hashash. "This stem cell transplant program is for patients like Amy who have failed multiple medical therapies and whom we want to try to reset the (immune) system."

The process uses chemotherapy followed by the body's own stem cells to reset the immune system and reduce the effects of Crohn’s disease.

"If Crohn's disease comes back, we'd like to see that it's coming back weaker than it was before, with less inflammation and less impact on the body," says Dr. Al Hashash.

"This was really both the best and the only option there was, and that there was another option that had such promise was really exciting," Amy says.

In addition to getting back to her family and career, Amy had another milestone in mind: to be able to sit through a whole family dinner without pain.

"I love family dinners," Amy says. "I think they're a wonderful way to connect with my kids. It just feels frustrating not to be part of that family moment."

Amy's treatment began in early 2025 and kept her in the hospital for nearly two months. She recorded herself reading bedtime stories to her children nightly, who were nearly 1,000 miles away.

About 100 days after treatment, tests confirmed that the stem cell transplant was successful.

"Amy is a beacon of hope for people with Crohn's disease who failed multiple therapies," says Dr. Al Hashash. "She's done fantastic."

Amy's care team continues to monitor her progress. Since returning home, Amy has been able to get back to the things she loves, starting with that family moment around the dinner table.

"I'm excited to be able to play with them more, to be with them more, to have more energy for their projects and ideas," Amy says. "And also, to be able to balance work-life in a way that I haven't been able to balance in the past few years because of my Crohn's."

The post A mom’s journey beyond Crohn’s disease and back to the moments that matter (VIDEO) appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

What started as a way to stay active and take his mind off a rare diagnosis became a mission for Christopher Edgerton. 

For three weeks this summer, he'll be cycling all 21 stages of the Tour de France one week ahead of the professional race in a 2,000-plus-mile event to raise awareness for blood cancers. 

Watch: A rare diagnosis fuels one man's cycling mission to complete pre-Tour de France event 

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:45) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script. 

"I think when you're on a bike, you have to live in the moment," says Christopher. "You've got to keep your eyes on the road, but at the same time, you've got a lot of time in your own head."  

For Christopher, cycling became more than an escape. It gave him space to process and heal. 

"I had my annual visit to the doctors," Christopher says about a 2018 visit. He remembers being asked if there was anything else. "I would have said, 'No, no, I'm fine,' but I just felt a little bit tired. So (my doctor) sent me for some (bloodwork). When I saw the results, they were all red. I sort of knew enough to be dangerous. I knew it wasn't good." 

"Chris has a very rare diagnosis called Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia," says Dr. Sikander Ailawadhi, a Mayo Clinic oncologist. "It could range from numbness or tingling in hands or feet to cancer-type tumors or the blood becomes so thick, it can lead to clots and cause strokes, heart attack, etc."  

"It's not curable, but it's treatable," says Christopher. "I sort of came to terms with the idea of: 'You've got a second chance at life.'"  

His care team built a plan around what mattered most to him. 

"He wanted limited-duration treatment, something that gave him his quality of life, his independence," says Dr. Ailawadhi.  

Christopher turned to cycling, pushing himself physically and mentally. A year after his diagnosis and buying a bike, he rode from Los Angeles to Boston and raised more than $50,000 for Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia research. 

"I felt like I needed to do something to prove I wasn't done," says Christopher.  

"He has his disease under very good control," says Dr. Ailawadhi. "He's not requiring active treatment right now, but that could change. He can travel, he can do what he wants to do and excels in his passion," says Dr. Ailawadhi.  

Now, he’s taking that passion even further, riding the full route of the 2026 Tour de France one week ahead of the professional race in an event that raises awareness for blood cancers. On June 27, he will begin riding from Barcelona, Spain, to Paris, France. The 21-stage event spans more than 2,000 miles and 175,000 feet of total elevation.

"Each day I'm going to ride for somebody," he says. "Each day I can tell somebody's story." 

And for Christopher, every mile comes with a reminder of what matters most. 

"I'm just very conscious about time," he says. "Everybody's limited on time, and I want to feel like I can get as much out of the time I've got." 

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a previously unrecognized way the kidneys regulate water balance — an advance that could lead to improved treatments for polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and other disorders. The study, led by Fouad Chebib, M.D., a nephrologist at Mayo Clinic, is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The findings build on decades of scientific understanding by revealing an additional pathway the kidney uses to control water balance. Until now, the body's ability to concentrate urine — and prevent dehydration — has been thought to depend primarily on the hormone vasopressin. Dr. Chebib's team discovered an alternative mechanism that operates independently of that system.

"The kidney's ability to regulate water is one of the most fundamental processes in the body," Dr. Chebib says. "It's not every day that you uncover a new way it carries out that function."

Polycystic kidney disease is a common inherited condition that causes fluid-filled cysts to grow in the kidneys over time, gradually reducing kidney function and often leading to kidney failure. It affects millions of people worldwide, including an estimated 140,000 people in the U.S. with the most common form, autosomal dominant PKD (ADPKD). Many patients eventually require dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Watch: 1940s-era drug shows new promise for kidney disease

Dr. Chebib's team studies how kidney cysts grow in PKD using lab-grown cell models. As part of that work, they tested compounds expected to worsen the disease process by increasing cellular signals linked to cyst growth. One of those compounds was probenecid, a drug first used in the 1940s to conserve limited supplies of penicillin by reducing its urinary excretion.

"We thought this drug would make the disease process worse," Dr. Chebib says. "Instead, it did the opposite."

Rather than promoting cyst growth, the drug slowed it. After repeating the experiments multiple times, the team realized they had uncovered something important.

Further investigation revealed that probenecid affects how kidney cells handle urate, a molecule commonly associated with gout. Inside the cell, urate acts as a signal — triggering a chain of events that helps move water channels to the cell surface. This allows the kidney to reabsorb water and concentrate urine without relying on vasopressin, the hormone traditionally thought to control this process.

"This represents a distinct pathway from what is described in traditional physiology models," Dr. Chebib says. "It demonstrates that the kidney has an additional mechanism to preserve water."

For patients with PKD, the discovery could address one of the biggest challenges of current treatment. The only approved therapy, tolvaptan, works by blocking vasopressin, which slows cyst growth but causes patients to produce very large amounts of urine — often 6 to 7 liters a day. That side effect can be difficult to live with and leads some patients to stop treatment.

In preclinical studies and a small clinical trial, adding probenecid reduced urine volume and nighttime urination while preserving the treatment's effectiveness.

After taking probenecid, patients' urine volume dropped by about 30% on average, and they went from waking up several times a night to urinate to about once per night. Many also reported improved quality of life.

"The goal is to preserve the therapeutic benefit of tolvaptan while reducing its burden," Dr. Chebib says.

Despite these promising results, researchers are not planning to rely on probenecid as a long-term solution. The drug is decades old, affects multiple systems in the body and is not widely available today. Instead, the team is using what they learned to design more targeted therapies.

"Probenecid helped us uncover the mechanism," Dr. Chebib says. "Our goal is to take this insight and develop therapies designed specifically for this pathway."

For Dr. Chebib, the work is rooted in early inspiration. He was drawn to kidney research after his father developed PKD.

"This has been a long and deeply purposeful journey," he says. "It started with a personal motivation and led to something that could ultimately benefit patients."

For a complete list of authors, disclosures and funding, see the study.

JOURNALISTS: Soundbites with Dr. Chebib are available in the downloads below.

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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contact:

• Sharon Theimer, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Researchers identify new kidney pathway with help from 1940s-era drug, may improve polycystic kidney disease treatment (VIDEO) appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hormone therapy use among women in the U.S. remains low, even though it's an effective treatment for many menopause symptoms, according to a new Mayo Clinic study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Menopause affects more than 1 million women each year in the U.S., and up to 75% experience symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats that can last for years. Yet researchers found that use of menopausal hormone therapy has steadily declined over time.

The study found that hormone therapy use dropped from 4.4% in 2007 to 1.7% in 2023. Even among women most likely to benefit — those ages 50 to 59 — only about 3.5% were using hormone therapy in 2023.

"We have strong evidence that hormone therapy is safe and effective for many women, but that hasn't translated into how it's used in clinical practice," says Stephanie Faubion, M.D., the Penny and Bill George Director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Women's Health and study author.

Researchers expected hormone therapy use to rebound in recent years as awareness of menopause has increased. Instead, rates remain at their lowest level since the early 2000s, following concerns raised after the Women's Health Initiative trial.  

The new study analyzed nationwide trends in hormone therapy use among women 40 and older between 2007 and 2023 using a large U.S. health database. Hormone therapy use was defined as having at least 180 days of filled prescriptions within a given year.

In addition to the overall decline, researchers found differences across racial and ethnic groups. Use was consistently higher among white women compared with Black, Hispanic and Asian American women. Oral therapies remained the most common, although both oral and transdermal treatments declined over time.

Despite growing public conversation about menopause, the findings suggest that increased awareness has not translated into greater use of the effective treatment.

Researchers say several factors may have contributed to the findings, including ongoing misconceptions about risks, limited menopause training among clinicians, and patient concerns or lack of awareness.

"The abundance of misinformation around hormone therapy is one reason some women are not getting treatment," says Dr. Faubion. "Many are seeking care for symptoms but aren't receiving therapies that could help."

Watch: A recent hormone therapy study for women entering menopause

Journalists: Broadcast-quality sound bites are available in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Name super/CG: Stephanie Faubion, M.D./ Women's Health /Mayo Clinic.

Hormone therapy is not appropriate for every patient. However, for many women — particularly those younger than 60 or within 10 years of menopause — it remains a safe and effective option for symptom relief. Even low-dose vaginal estrogen, which has a favorable safety profile, remains underused.

Untreated menopause symptoms can affect sleep, mood and overall quality of life. Some women may seek care from multiple specialists without a clear diagnosis or treatment plan. Symptoms also may affect workplace productivity.

Researchers say the next step is to better understand and address the barriers preventing women from receiving appropriate care.

"Despite increased attention on menopause, we still have a long way to go," says Dr. Faubion. "Improving education for both patients and clinicians will be key to closing this gap."

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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contact:

• Tia Ford, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Hormone therapy use for menopause declines despite proven benefits, study finds appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.