ROCHESTER, Minn. — A $25 million gift from the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. family will establish the Gerstner Scholars Program in AI Translation at Mayo Clinic. Through this program, junior and early-career clinicians and clinician-investigators will collaborate with leading experts in artificial intelligence (AI), data science and informatics to drive breakthrough cures for patients.

“We are deeply grateful to Lou and Robin Gerstner for their long-standing friendship and support,” says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., Mayo Clinic's president and CEO. “Lou’s remarkable generosity over many years has been instrumental in pushing the boundaries of innovation, allowing us to deliver the best care to our patients. This gift further empowers our clinicians to lead practice-changing advancements in healthcare through the strategic and ethical application of AI.”

Mr. Gerstner’s philanthropy to Mayo Clinic is driven by his commitment to fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, bold thinking and cutting-edge research to benefit patients. As the former chairman and CEO of IBM, Mr. Gerstner understands the power of investing in talented and motivated professionals amid a technical revolution.

"AI holds incredible promise for the future of medicine, but it takes more than just algorithms to make that promise a reality,” says Mr. Gerstner. “It requires a commitment to innovation and to the talented individuals who can turn theory into practice. By creating the Gerstner Scholars Program at Mayo Clinic, we ensure that clinicians with patient-first strategies have what they need to redefine what’s possible in healthcare."

Mayo Clinic established Mayo Clinic Platform, the first true platform in healthcare, in part to advance AI innovations globally and ensure these solutions reach patients everywhere. Mayo Clinic Platform is enabling the development and integration of AI solutions in a massively scalable and meaningful way, with more than 250 AI solutions in use or under development at Mayo Clinic alone. Supported by the world’s largest privacy-protected global dataset, these solutions focus on enhancing early disease detection, improving treatment accuracy and supporting diagnostics. Mayo Clinic is a leader in responsible and ethical AI and is committed to patient-centric solutions, with rigorous safety, regulatory and privacy measures, including physician oversight of all patient care solutions.

The Gerstner Scholars Program will accelerate these advancements by providing critical funding and dedicated time for clinicians to pursue high-impact AI projects across Mayo Clinic and ensure more AI-powered solutions are available to patients.

“Mayo Clinic is a leader in artificial intelligence in healthcare because we are able to translate innovation into real solutions for our patients earlier in their care journeys,” says Matthew R. Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic’s medical director for Strategy, chair of Radiology in Rochester, and leader of the Generative Artificial Intelligence Program. “We are profoundly grateful to Mr. Gerstner for this visionary gift. The Gerstner Scholars Program empowers us to stay at the forefront of healthcare transformation by investing in our world-leading staff.”

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About Mr. Gerstner
Louis V. Gerstner Jr. served as CEO and chairman of the board of International Business Machines Corp. from 1993 to 2002. Mr. Gerstner subsequently joined The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm, where he served as chairman and, upon retiring from that position, continued as a senior adviser through 2016.

Before joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served as chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco, Inc., president of the American Express Company, and a director of the management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., Inc. A native of Mineola, New York, Mr. Gerstner received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

The Gerstner family is a long-standing supporter of Mayo Clinic, funding research and education initiatives and the Gerstner Family Career Development Awards in Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine. In recognition of his work on behalf of public education and his business accomplishments, Mr. Gerstner was awarded the designation of honorary Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.

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

Media contact:

• Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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