Precious cargo: Daily deliveries to Mayo Clinic

Health & Wellness

Precious cargo: Daily deliveries to Mayo Clinic

By
Joel Streed

May 12, 2019

Each day, almost 40,000 specimens are flown in to Rochester, Minnesota, for delivery to Mayo Clinic Laboratories. Specimens come from more than 4,000 clients in more than 70 countries. The cargo sometimes includes packages labeled "donated human tissue for transplant." Or the packages may include radioactive material used to prepare medications for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, including targeted treatments for some forms of cancer. Daily cargo delivery to Mayo Clinic is vital to helping patients receive timely diagnostic results and lifesaving treatments.

Onthis Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Andrew Paulsen, supervisor of Mayo Clinic's nuclear medicine pharmacy, and Thomas Griffin, global logistics manager for Mayo Clinic Laboratories, will explain how precious cargo arrives at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus daily. Also on the program, Dr. S. Vincent Rajkumar, a Mayo Clinic hematologist who has researched prescription drug costs extensively, will share his perspective on the topic. And Dr. Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic vaccine expert, will discuss the ongoing measles outbreak in the U.S.

Here's your Mayo Clinic Radio podcast.