• Celebrating international relationships, past, present and future

It was 100 years ago that Dr. Charles Mayo visited France and met with famed physicist Marie Curie, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize. That meeting helped to set the stage for her research collaboration with Mayo and the relationship between Mayo and France that continues today.

Celebrating those past, present and future relationships was the reason for a news conference held at Mayo Clinic on Friday, Jan. 6.  Ambassador of France to the United States Philippe Etienne was visiting Mayo Clinic for the first time. He was joined by Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; and Rochester Mayor Kim Norton.

Dr. Terzic highlighted Mayo’s long history of international relationships. “It is in that spirit of international interactions that, as William Mayo would say, science has no country. And it's that spirit of medicine without borders, or medicine beyond borders, that has led the legacy of Mayo and drove its humanitarian mission in unlocking new technologies and new therapies.”

Watch: The speakers talk about relationships

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video is available in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: Mayo Clinic News Network. Name super/CG: Andre Terzic, M.D., Ph.D./Cardiology/Mayo Clinic. - Philippe Etienne/Ambassador of France to the United States - Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) Minnesota

Etienne expressed his desire for future relationships. “I'm really looking forward to the strengthening of the collaboration, especially between the U.S. and France, but especially between France and Minnesota, based on the institutions which do exist here are the companies and the innovation capacity of Minnesota in the fields of medicine and biotech. And I want to say that the medical sector will be one and probably the most important focus of our attention in the developing of these opportunities, both in business but also in education, higher education and science.”

Klobuchar spoke about the importance of international alliances and the trade and research relationships that result. “We also saw during the pandemic how much international cooperation mattered when it came to research and when it came to the vaccines. And this long-standing research that happens here at Mayo, with everything from personal medicine to the work that goes on in collaboration with France and other countries, must continue.”

Etienne also toured Mayo’s Rochester campus, and said he was very impressed with the patient-centered philosophy of the institution.

For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was either recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in a nonpatient care area where other safety protocols were followed.