DEPARTMENT HISTORY

1901

Research beginnings at the Mayo Clinic - Dr. Henry Plummer joins William Worrall Mayo and his sons as the 4th partner in the Mayo Practice. He urges Drs. Mayo to consider a research program as a necessary and vital part of the practice, and he introduces the unit medical record for each patient in 1907.

1910

Establishment of the first diagnostic index (Plummer-Root file) - Dr. Plummer devises a diagnostic index patterned after the 1888 Nomenclature of Diseases of the Royal College of Physicians. Two sophisticated coding systems were implemented on 5 x 7 index cards to catalog all medical diagnoses and surgical procedures. These systems comprise the foundation of the existing data infrastructure used by the department today.

1929

First biostatistician at the Mayo Clinic - Dr. Halbert Dunn was the first biometrician hired by the Mayo Clinic. He initiated the IBM coding system in medical statistics.

1932

First biostatistics department at the Mayo Clinic - Biometry and Statistical Department was created to apply the latest methodology in analyzing medical data.

1934

Re-organization of the biostatistics department - Dr. Joseph Berkson was named (“Berkson’s bias”) Head of the Division of Biometry and Medical Statistics. He remained as the Chair until 1964.

1935

Re-engineering of the indexing system using the IBM punch card technology - Dr. Joseph Berkson introduced a medical and surgical index that employed the new IBM Hollerith punch card.

1964

Establishment of the Department of Medical Statistics, Epidemiology and Population Genetics - The department was re-organized as the Department of Medical Statistics, Epidemiology and Population Genetics, and Dr. Leonard Kurland was named as the Chair.

1966

Establishment of the Rochester Epidemiology Project - Dr. Kurland initiated the population-based Rochester Epidemiology Project with funding from the National Institutes of Health.

1987

Re-organization and Establishment of the Department of Health Sciences Research - The department was re-organized under 4 divisions (as they exist today) and Dr. Jack Whisnant was named as the Chair. Subsequent department Chairs were Dr. Joseph Melton, III, 1993-1994; Dr. Michael O'Fallon, 1994-2000; Dr. Colum Gorman 2000-2001; Dr. Sherine Gabriel 2001-2007. The Chair since 2007 is Dr. Veronique Roger.