Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine

The Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine has been renamed twice in its history. The first took place in 2017 when the school was renamed from Mayo Medical School to Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in order to clarify its focus and function more clearly.[2] The second took place in November 2018, when it was renamed Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in honor of a $200 million donation from businessman Jay Alix.[13]

First-year students are inducted into the Mayo Clinic Alumni Association (MCAA) and given their first stethoscopes by alumni.[37] Medical students are encouraged to explore and develop their specialty interests early on through the Career Advisory and Mentorship Program—which pairs students with faculty physicians—as well as through their Mentorship Family. Because the Mayo Clinic has the largest residency and fellowship program in the United States, the MCAA Alumni Connect program provides medical students access to an extensive network of prominent physicians at a variety of institutions.[38]

MCASOM students are eligible for membership in the Mayo Fellows Association, which puts together social events for medical and graduate students, residents, and fellows.[39] Other social outlets available to students include the Mayo Employee Resource Groups (MERGs). These MERGs sponsor programs and activities for Mayo Clinic affiliates identifying with diverse communities, such as LGBTI, women leadership, and Native American heritage.[40] The Alice Mayo Society and Mayo Families’ Connection offer moving, career, and social support for significant others of MCASOM students.[41][42]

Arts and other creative pursuits are part of many students' experiences at MCASOM. The Mayo Clinic Dolores Jean Lavins Center for Humanities in Medicine sponsors year-round programs in art making, creative writing, improvisational theater, and musical performance.[43] The center publishes The Tempest creative arts publication annually—a collection of poetry, prose, and visual art meant to illustrate the growth of medical students into physicians.[44]

Mitchell Student Center in front of the Guggenheim Building

MCASOM has its administrative center and primary location at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.[7][11] It is the largest medical school campus in the United States, with 11.5 million square feet of medical and research space in a single location.[46] Educational activities are based at the Mitchell Student Center and Guggenheim Building, particularly in the Kendall-Hench lecture hall. Students also attend classes and conduct laboratory exercises in the Stabile Building, which contains a state-of-the-art anatomy laboratory and a Multidisciplinary Simulation Center.[47] The Plummer Building is home to the Mayo Clinic Libraries system—one of the largest medical libraries in the world—which offers students access to around 400,000 bound volumes and 4,800 medical and scientific journal subscriptions.[48] The Gonda Building houses several seminar rooms and the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation, a facility where students can develop ideas to improve health care alongside staff and entrepreneurs. The adjacent Mayo Building has a number of conference rooms used for small group exercises. Together, the Gonda and Mayo buildings comprise the core outpatient clinical practice facilities in downtown Rochester. The Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester provides extensive inpatient learning experiences for medical students with 2,059 licensed beds[49][50] and 115 operating rooms[51] across the Methodist Campus, Saint Marys Campus, and Mayo Eugenio Litta Children's Hospital.[52][53]

Each year, the Rochester campus matriculates 46 M.D. students, 7 M.D.-Ph.D. students, and 2 M.D.-O.M.S. students, for a total incoming class size of 55.[54] These students have the opportunity to complete their selective experiences, third- and fourth-year rotations, clinical electives, and research projects (including Ph.D. dissertations) at the campuses in Arizona and Florida.

The City of Rochester is currently undergoing a 20-year, $5.6 billion infrastructure improvement project called the Destination Medical Center (DMC).[55] This public–private partnership, which started in 2013, matches public investment from a legislative bill for transportation infrastructure to private investments from the Mayo Clinic on its Rochester facilities. The overarching goal is to turn the campus into a global destination for health and wellness.[56] Regional plans from the Rochester-Olmsted Council of Governments aim to attract outside companies and investments in the biotechnology industry and to double the population of the city by the year 2040.[57][58]

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  Mitchell Student Center facade
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  Mitchell Student Center doorway
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  Mitchell Student Center architecture
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  Mitchell Student Center side view
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  Gonda Building with Mayo Clinic flag
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  Gonda Building Grand Staircase
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  Mayo Building behind the Mitchell Student Center
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  Mayo Building side view
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  Plummer Building at night

MCASOM expanded its four-year medical school class to the Mayo Clinic Arizona campus in 2017.[59] Arizona-based medical students have their preclinical classes in Scottsdale, then complete most of their clerkships at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix during years 3 and 4.[60] They may also rotate in pediatrics and related subspecialties through a partnership at Phoenix Children's Hospital.[61] The Maricopa Integrated Health System offers medical students expanded rotation opportunities in psychiatry.[62] Students may also rotate through the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Hospital for internal medicine and psychiatry.

Each year, the Arizona campus matriculates 50 M.D. students.[54]

In addition to selectives and clerkships, up to 8 MCASOM students based in either Minnesota or Arizona have the option to complete years 3 and 4 at the Mayo Clinic Florida campus (Florida FOCUS 2+2 track).[63][64]

A unique feature of the MCASOM curriculum are the selectives, which have been shown to increase medical student academic productivity and the desire to conduct future research.[70] There are twenty-eight undesignated weeks between blocks spread out during the first two years. Twelve of these weeks can be used as vacation or for dedicated USMLE Step 1 study time. The other sixteen must be spent doing something medically-related for at least 20 hours per week—these are termed selectives. Selectives allow students to shadow physicians, learn surgical skills, volunteer in free clinics, remediate courses, or do research. Each student is eligible for up to $1,500 in travel funding per year in order to visit other Mayo Clinic campuses, present research, or serve indigent patients.[71] Established selective options include the Bounce Day course in emergency preparedness,[72][73] Regenerative Medicine and Surgery,[74][75][76] and Mission:BRAIN global health trips[77] with Professor of Neurologic Surgery Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa.[78]

Starting with the incoming class of 2015, the school formally integrated longitudinal coursework in the Science of Health Care Delivery (SHCD) into the four-year curriculum. This coursework entails a mixture of lectures and practical experiences. Studies of SHCD comprise six major domains: leadership, person-centered care, high value care, health economics and technology, population-centered care, and team-based care. The SHCD curriculum adds a social sciences perspective to the traditional medical school model, aiming to produce physicians aware of and capable of addressing problems in the US health care system.[79][80]

Students fulfill a community service requirement by seeing uninsured and underinsured patients at the Rochester Education and Advocacy for Community Health (REACH) free clinic throughout Year 2.[81] Interested students can volunteer to staff other local free clinics—the Smoking Cessation Clinic,[82] the Center Clinic[83] in Dodge Center, and the Mayo Family Medicine Resident Clinic[84] in Kasson—for selective credit or just to gain more experience.

In Phoenix, Arizona, first and second year students see patients at St. Vincent de Paul community clinic.[85][86]

The Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University Alliance for Health Care offers expanded academic and research opportunities for MCASOM students at ASU.[87] This program allows medical students to earn additional degrees through ASU, including a Juris Doctor (J.D.) and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.).[88]

Paracelsus Medical University was developed based on the model and in close cooperation with MCASOM.[89] PMU offers MCASOM students full scholarships to pursue medical research[90] and clinical fellowships[91] for up to one year at its campuses in Salzburg (Austria) and Nuremberg (Germany).[92]

MCASOM students have the opportunity to be involved (e.g. through selectives or student exchanges) at Mayo Clinic's London operation in partnership with the University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.[93][94]