ASU Health Services will offer students on all four campuses Mayo Clinic expertise through its collaboration with the Mayo Clinic Care Network, integrated with campus health services on May 18.
The addition of the Mayo Clinic Care Network will give students access to specialty medical professionals, like dermatologists, without having to travel to leave campus.
Features such as eConsult and AskMayoExpert allow ASU physicians to interact with specialists in order to provide more specific treatment to patients.
The Mayo Clinic Care Network also uses telemedicine tools in which a physician at a Mayo Clinic location can see a patient who is at ASU.
One of these telemedicine tools is teledermoscopy, a method in which a picture of a skin lesion can be sent to a Mayo Clinic physician for immediate analysis.
Mayo Clinic physician Russell Heigh said the collaboration would benefit ASU's large student body.
"If a student is in student health services and there is a problem that a specialist could help, (the Mayo Clinic Care Network) might save the student a visit to the specialist," Heigh said. "It can make things more efficient for the student."
He said Mayo Clinic is pleased with ASU's commitment to the future of medicine.
"ASU has leading faculty involved in not just the delivery of health care but the science of health care delivery," Heigh said. "They're looking toward the future to develop models of how to do things better."
He said he believes the future of medicine is in collaborating between specialized institutions.
ASU Health Services Director Allan Markus said Mayo Clinic's focus on patient care, education and research mirrors ASU Health Services' priorities.
"We've always known the quality of Mayo Clinic," Markus said. "One of the things ASU health services will benefit from (the Mayo Clinic Care Network) is the incorporation of more things about research into what we do."
He said the incorporation of telemedicine will strengthen ASU students' access to specialty care.
ASU spokeswoman Terri Shafer said ASU's long-term relationship with the Mayo Clinic has not only improved ASU's health care, but provided academic opportunities for students studying medicine as well.
She said health care education and health care research is a critical element for the University.
"We have more undergraduate students pursuing pre-medical fields than any other university in the state," Shafer said. "Having a link with the Mayo Clinic is critical for students who wish to pursue health care fields."
Reach the reporter at dgrobmei@asu.edu
Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook. Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press email newsletter.
