CHAPTER ONETHE TRIPLE CROWN QUEST—EXCELLENT, ETHICAL, AND ENDURING

What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place … ?

—Winston Churchill

 

It was a quest that crossed generations: finding a better way.

It started with a father, William Worrall Mayo, and his small medical practice in Minnesota in the 1860s. Twenty years later, his two sons joined him. They were obsessed with finding better ways to help patients. Humble and curious, they invited outside physicians into their practice, creating what was arguably the first integrated group medical practice in the world.

Practicing medicine with this kind of team-based approach was revolutionary at the time. Individual physicians were ...

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