Mayo Clinic Health System receives UW System Regents Business Partnership Award

The unique collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Mayo Clinic Health System in Northwest Wisconsin expands opportunities for students and helps meet the health care and workforce needs of the Chippewa Valley.

Mayo Clinic Health System has been recognized with the inaugural UW System Regents Business Partnership Award. The award was presented at UW-Eau Claire on Monday, April 24. UW System President Jay Rothman was joined by Regents Vice President Amy Bogost to present the award.

“The partnership between Mayo Clinic Health System and UW-Eau Claire is exemplary,” Rothman says. “From research to internships, Mayo and UW-Eau Claire are working together to benefit our students, the region and our state.”

“The Board of Regents is pleased to recognize Mayo Clinic Health System with the Regents Business Partnership Award,” Bogost says. “Across Wisconsin, our universities are graduating students who our workforce needs, pursuing research that benefits businesses, and making communities better.”

Mayo Clinic Health System in Northwest Wisconsin and UW-Eau Claire signed an initial five-year collaborative agreement in 2017 and, in February 2023, extended the research work for 10 years while expanding research opportunities across a range of disciplines.

“This award is a testament to the visionary professionals who have helped take our collaboration with Mayo Clinic Health System to the next level,” UW-Eau Claire Chancellor James Schmidt says. “Our innovative relationship gives UW-Eau Claire students remarkable undergraduate research opportunities that will help equip them with the knowledge to help make a true difference in the world. Blugolds will take these one-of-a-kind experiences with Mayo Clinic Health System’s world-class physicians and scientists to help solve real problems, including health care disparities in the Chippewa Valley and around the nation.”

Since the agreement was announced six years ago, UW-Eau Claire students, faculty and staff have worked on more than 40 collaborative research projects with Mayo Clinic Health System physicians and scientists.

“Mayo Clinic Health System is honored to receive UW-Eau Claire’s inaugural UW System Regents Business Partnership Award,” says Dr. Richard Helmers, regional vice president of Mayo Clinic Health System in Northwest Wisconsin. “Our many collaborations with UW-Eau Claire across research, education and clinical practice will bring benefits for decades to come, improving the health and well-being of the residents of northwest Wisconsin and training the health care professionals of the future.”

Among the collaborative initiatives between Mayo Clinic Health System and UW-Eau Claire are the following:

• The UW-Eau Claire Blugold Biomedical Innovator Program was created for students pursuing a career in the health care or biomedical field to better prepare the next generation of scientists, innovators, health care providers and leaders.

• UW-Eau Claire students have the opportunity to take part in clinical rotations and observation experiences at Mayo Clinic Health System.

• Through a Workforce Innovation Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Council, Mayo Clinic Health System and UW-Eau Claire are working together to address the need for more nurses, health care staff and nurse educators.

• Mayo Clinic Health System is contributing $13.7 million in philanthropic contributions to support the cost of creating and occupying a 10,000-square-foot shared research workspace in the new Science and Health Sciences Building on UW-Eau Claire’s campus.

• The Mayo Clinic Health System Diagnostic Imaging and Sports Medicine Center will be located in the County Materials Complex, offering sports medicine, human performance enhancement and imaging services.

• Mayo Clinic Health System has long been a top employer of UW-Eau Claire graduates in the Chippewa Valley. The most recent First Destination Report that tracks Blugold graduates indicates Mayo Clinic Health System was the top employer of 2021-22 UW-Eau Claire graduates.

• Mayo Clinic Health System provides the medical director for UW-Eau Claire Student Health Service.

• Mayo Clinic Health System is the sports medicine provider for UW-Eau Claire athletics.