Health Care Hall of Fame Past Inductees

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Inducted in 2016

Plummer was a skilled clinician and innovator who was instrumental in founding the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Plummer, who joined the fledgling clinic in 1901, was a gifted physician, but he also recognized how technology, organizational design and even architecture could play a role in the healing process. Dr. William Mayo, one of the two brothers who founded the clinic, would later say that hiring Plummer was his “best day's work.” It was Plummer who helped develop the concept of a comprehensive medical record at Mayo, a dossier in which all the information about a patient could be found in one place. He is also credited with designing the system that led to the hallmark of the clinic, an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to medical practice. He died of a blood clot in 1936 at age 62.