Prathibha Varkey, a CMC alumnus, named president of Mayo Clinic Health System

Dr. Prathibha Varkey, an alumnus of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, has been named president of Mayo Clinic Health System, effective August 16, 2021. Friends from her alma mater recall her as a person very dedicated to her work.

Dr. Varkey will partner with Mary Jo Williamson, chief administrative officer, Mayo Clinic Health System, to lead the strategy and operations of the health system’s 17 hospitals and nearly 50 community clinics across Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. She succeeds Bobbie Gostout, M.D., who retired from Mayo Clinic in December 2020.

She earned her medical degree from Christian Medical College, Vellore, in Tamil Nadu. She joined CMC in 1991 and apart from excelling in medical studies, she was also good at quiz, essay competition and sports. According to her batchmates, she represented the college in volleyball.

Dr. Varkey also excelled in academics during her school days. “We joined MBBS in 1991. She has been academically brilliant and very much research oriented. She was very focussed from the start. All our batchmates congratulated her after hearing this news,” said Chandra Singh, urologist and associate director, Finance, CMC.

Anna Pulimood, principal, CMC Vellore, said that in CMC focus on the health of the community is given importance. “Ms. Varkey must have been tuned to public health issues right from her graduation days. This is because our students are expected to identify health problems of villages and come up with solutions. Since Ms. Varkey would have such a bent of mind, she has been able to take up such a big responsibility,” she said.

Dr. Varkey completed her internal medicine residency at Yale New Haven Health’s Hospital of St. Raphael. She has a Masters of Public Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Masters of Health Professions Education from University of Illinois Medical Center, an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota, and an honorary Masters of Arts from Yale University.

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