Mayo Clinic in Florida - by Virginia Wright-Peterson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This book of narrative history tells the inside story of how Mayo Clinic launched its first campus outside Minnesota. In doing so, a patch of farmland in Jacksonville, Florida got transformed into what today is a world-class medical center.

The colorful, sometimes chaotic story began with a Florida woman stuck in the snow as her husband got medical care at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. That prompted an idea to expand the same great medical care, but without the snow. A group of Mayo innovators, joined by a motivated group of Floridians, kickstarted the idea into the eventual establishment of Mayo Clinic's first campus outside Minnesota.

Mayo Clinic in Florida: A Legacy of Dedication, Innovation and Excellence celebrates the journey from idea to institution as Mayo Clinic Florida recently had its 35-year anniversary. Nothing came easily. The local medical establishment scoffed at the upstart with its "Hold the Mayo" campaign. The laidback culture of Florida sometimes clashed with Mayo's more formal decorum. Myriad challenges sprouted, from lack of hot water at the start to trouble filling jobs to small daily reminders that they're not in Minnesota anymore. For example, a staffer who transferred from the Rochester campus tripped over an alligator while on a lunch walk.

But perseverance and Mayo Clinic's values overcame it all.

The author, Ginny Wright-Peterson, is not just an award-winning historian and writer. She actually lived this story as a Mayo Clinic employee on the ground as the Jacksonville campus took root. This book came about due to close collaboration with Mayo Clinic Heritage Hall plus key leaders at the Jacksonville campus, including:
Dr. Kent Thielen, CEO
AJ Dunn, chief administrative officer
Nell Robinson, chair of education administration

Anyone who loves a good startup story will enjoy this book. Selling points include the hunger to know a previously untold piece of the Mayo Clinic story, the drama of starting a medical center from scratch, the human fascination with cultures clashing and eventually working in harmony.

About the Author

Virginia Wright-Peterson is an author and educator with a special interest in untold stories, especially women's history and the history of Mayo Clinic. She brings personal experience to this book, having worked in Mayo Clinic administration in Jacksonville, Fla. when the campus opened. This is her fourth book of historical nonfiction. All three previous books, including Women of Mayo Clinic: The Founding Generation, were finalists for a Minnesota Book Award in the Minnesota Nonfiction category. Wright-Peterson lives in Minnesota.