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Mayo Clinic Celebrates 25 Years in Arizona
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — June 28, 2012. Twenty-five years ago, in June 1987, a crew of just 47 physicians and 225 allied health employees rallied to formally launch Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Before the doors even opened, 1,800 patient appointments had been booked.
Now, at the organization's 25th anniversary, set for Friday, June 29, 470 physicians and scientists and nearly 5,000 allied health employees, including many from the "original crew," will celebrate Mayo Clinic's many successes over the past quarter century of operation.
Mayo Clinic in Arizona now spans two campuses, comprising more than 400 acres of land, and has added two research buildings on the Scottsdale campus and, on the Phoenix campus, a 244-bed hospital, a specialty clinic, housing for transplant and cancer patients and leased space for a child care center, a hospice and a hotel. Offsite family medicine practices were also added in Scottsdale and Glendale, Ariz.
A visible new development on the Phoenix campus is construction currently under way for the Proton Beam Therapy Program, a precise form of cancer treatment that allows greater control over radiation doses, using pencil-beam scanning. Located just east of Mayo Clinic Hospital, the 100,000-plus square foot facility is expected to open its first treatment rooms by 2016. The center will be the first one in the Southwest.
Plans were also announced in September 2011 for development of a branch of Mayo Medical School, called the Mayo Medical School – Arizona Campus, in collaboration with Arizona State University. Expected to open in 2015, the school will offer both a medical degree granted by Mayo and a master's degree in the Science of Health Care Delivery through ASU.
Mayo Clinic continues to be committed to innovations, research and new technology related to its core clinical areas — Cancer, Cardiology, Neurosciences and Transplant. Our Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated centers in the U.S., and the only one in the Valley. This designation brings the latest advances in research and technology directly to cancer patients. Patients in need of a life-saving heart, kidney, pancreas, liver or bone marrow transplant are availed of the services of the largest transplant entity in the U.S., given the combined expertise of Mayo's campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota.
At the same time, Mayo Clinic is setting its sights on ways to bring more targeted, individualized care to patients through individualized medicine, regenerative medicine and the science of health care delivery. Individualized medicine examines predictors of potential disease in individual patients, and physicians then select the appropriate treatments. Regenerative medicine studies the root cause of disease and explores treatments that can repair diseased tissue. All this knowledge is inherent in the science of health care delivery, where the goal is to bring affordable, patient-centered care to patients.
"While we are celebrating our notable successes at our 25-year mark in the Valley, importantly, we're honoring our dedicated staff, our generous benefactors, our key collaborative partners and the pioneering spirit of our original crew — our true trail blazers," says Wyatt Decker, M.D., CEO, Mayo Clinic in Arizona. "We especially celebrate our loyal patients and their families who have come to know and rely on us. We are extremely proud to be able to serve them." Notes Anita Mayer, M.D., who led Mayo's anniversary efforts and serves as Chair, Women's Health Internal Medicine: "This has been a rich period of growth for Mayo Clinic. These historical milestones we are celebrating at our quarter century mark tell us how far we have come. Importantly, these achievements will help shape the future of Mayo Clinic in the Valley and beyond."
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About Mayo Clinic:
Recognizing 150 years of serving humanity in 2014, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit 150years.mayoclinic.org, www.mayoclinic.org and newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.
Media Contact: Lynn Closway, Public Affairs, 480-301-4222, Mayo Clinic
