Rochester, MN (KROC AM News) - Mayo Clinic has announced its largest gift ever - $200-million.

The money will be used by Mayo’s medical school, which will now be called Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine.

The gift comes from Jay Alix, a highly successful consultant credited with helping the American automotive industry out of the Great Recession. Alix has a long relationship with Mayo as a patient and a member of its Board of Trustees. Mayo says the money will be used to “expand scholarship opportunities, further innovation in the school’s curriculum, and establish a professorship.”

“My primary philanthropic interests are medicine and education. Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine will offer an ideal opportunity to advance both fields,” said Alix. “Genetics, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and other technologies are transforming medical research, education and practice. This gift will further enable Mayo’s medical school to recruit the best medical students and to create a curriculum that trains them to harness evolving radical advances in medical science and technology to the greatest benefit of patients.”

Jay Alix
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According to Mayo, Alix began supporting the clinic in the 1980s when he modeled his own company after Mayo’s clinical practice model, a patient-centered approach that includes multi-specialty collaboration, cutting-edge technology, and dedicated staff focused on delivering the highest quality care to each individual patient.

“Mayo Clinic is honored to be the recipient of this transformative endowment,” says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. “It enables faculty and students to explore new academic fields to better patient care, conduct research, apply new technologies and develop innovative teaching methods far into the future.”

The endowment also will support scholarships as part of Mayo Clinic’s commitment to increase access to the medical profession for student candidates regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. Scholarships will help develop a strong health care workforce for the future, as the country faces a physician shortage projected to hit nearly 121,000 by the year 2030, according to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

In 1981, Jay Alix, an expert in corporate turnarounds and restructurings, founded AlixPartners, now the leading global turnaround consultancy. Although no longer in management at the firm, he remains a member of its board of directors. In recent years, Mr. Alix has concentrated on philanthropy, including the University of Pennsylvania, as well as numerous documentary movies and Tony Award-winning theatrical productions on Broadway.

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