Mayo Clinic Florida names Dr. Gianrico Farrugio CEO

Who: Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, 50

Current roles: Director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine in Rochester, Minn., and a professor of medicine, physiology and biomedical engineering at Mayo's medical school. “We now can quickly decode every letter in a patient's genes and their whole genome,” he said on the center's website. “This information opens remarkable opportunities in our ability to individualize the way we prevent, predict, diagnose and treat diseases.”

New position: President and CEO of Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville, Fla., campus, effective Jan. 1. The 214-bed Mayo Clinic Florida opened in 2008.

Mayo Clinic CEO's take: “Dr. Farrugia brings a wealth of experience to his new role,” Mayo CEO Dr. John Noseworthy said. “He is a physician leader who brings to this important role a deep commitment to Mayo's values, mission and strategic vision, along with a passion to lead and equip teams to reach more patients and strengthen Mayo Clinic's position as a global healthcare leader.”

His medical background: Farrugia is a gastroenterologist and a director of Mayo's Enteric Neuroscience Program, which studies the gastrointestinal tract's neuromuscular system. The goal of the program is to develop medical and surgical therapies for patients who suffer from intestinal motility disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome.