Equal Development and Progressive Responsibility: The History of the Mayo Clinic Neurology Residency

The first Mayo Clinic neurology resident began training approximately 1 century ago. Over the subsequent 100 years, 639 budding specialists in diseases of the nervous system graduated from the Mayo Clinic Neurology Residency in Rochester, Minnesota. The history of the American residency has been thoroughly covered by Ludmerer in his 2014 book Let Me Heal, and a history of the Mayo Clinic Otolaryngology Residency Program was published in 2020.2 Mulder discussed education in the Mayo Clinic Department of Neurology as part of an overview of the history of the department in 1971.3 The history of the Mayo Clinic Neurology Residency Program was reviewed in a book by Mulder in 1988, but this was privately printed and not widely available. Todman summarized some of the contents of this book, but did not delve into the history of the training program. Using annual section/department reports and numerous other primary sources in the W. Bruce Fye Center for the History of Medicine at Mayo Clinic, this commentary will review the history of the Mayo Clinic Neurology Residency in detail. It will focus on the training program in Rochester, MN, while noting that neurology residencies were started at Mayo Clinic in Florida and Mayo Clinic in Arizona in the 2000s. Reciprocal development and progressive responsibility were essential components of the residency from the start.

Author(s): Christopher J.Boes Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

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