Charles Horace Mayo
Charles Horace Mayo (July 19, 1865 – May 26, 1939) was an American medical practitioner and was one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic along with his brother, William James Mayo, Drs. Augustus Stinchfield, Christopher Graham, E. Star Judd, Henry Stanley Plummer, Melvin Millet and Donald Balfour.
Mayo graduated from the medical school of Northwestern University (now called the Feinberg School of Medicine) in 1888 and joined his father, William Worrall Mayo, and older brother, William James Mayo, in their private medical practice in Rochester, Minnesota.
The Mayo's first partner was Dr. Augustus Stinchfield, who was hired Dr. William Worrall Mayo. Once in place as a partner in the private practice, W. W. Mayo retired at age 73. The private practice became the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic in 1919. At that point, the remaining partners went on salery, and the Mayo Properties Association was established. The worlds first "integrated group practice" was established by the seven partners and staff.
The Mayo Clinic came to be regarded as one of the foremost medical treatment and research institutions in the world. Within Mayo's lifetime it registered one million patients.
The idea of medical specialization was developed by this group of medical pioneers. A close and enduring relationship between the Mayo Clinic and the Universty of Minnesota Medical School developed. C. H. Mayo specialized in surgery of the thyroid and nervous system. He was also responsible for the clinic's ophthalmic patients until 1908. He and early partners insisted on sterile conditions in the operating room, and that may have contibuted to the medical practices early surgical successes.
Mayo retired in 1928 and died in 1939 in Chicago, Illinois. His two sons Charles William Mayo and Joseph Mayo both worked at Clinic.
The United States Postal Service printed a stamp depicting him and his brother on September 11, 1964.
References
- Clapesattle, Helen. The Doctors Mayo, University of Minnesota Press (1975). ISBN 0-8166-0465-7