The History of Mayo Clinic's Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

Welcome

Mayo Clinic’s Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine was officially formed on April 1, 1924. In its first century, the department has played pivotal roles in a variety of important developments that have advanced the specialty of anesthesiology. These include:

  • Dedicated nurses at Mayo Clinic who delivered anesthesia in the 1890s, starting the field of nurse anesthesia.
  • Early trials that led to the use of sodium pentothal.
  • Innovations such as the nation’s first blood bank and postoperative intensive care unit.
  • Creation of the intravenous catheter.
  • Training of “90-day wonders,” physicians trained in anesthesiology during World War II, many of whom became major leaders of the specialty.
  • Co-founding and leadership of specialty organizations such as the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Board of Anesthesiology.
This webpage will provide a spectrum of stories, statistics, and other information that will describe the first century of the department’s impact on the evolving specialty of anesthesiology, as well as its remarkable start and stories of the nurse anesthetists who played such as pivotal role in improving the care of surgical patients.

2024-2025 Centennial Celebration Events

During the remainder of centennial year of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine that extends from April 1, 2024, to April 1, 2025, there will be a variety of events and activities to celebrate the anniversary.  These include:

  • A series of visiting professors in Rochester who will speak about the history of the department and its impact on the specialty.  These include:
    • November 18, 2024:  Christine Ball, M.D., is an anaesthesiologist at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  She was the 2020-2024 Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology’s Laureate of the History of Anesthesiology.  She also is the long-serving Honorary Curator of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthesia History.
    • December 9, 2024:  Peter J. Featherstone, M.B.B.Ch., is an anaesthesiologist and intensivist at Cambridge University Hospitals in England.  He has won numerous awards in anesthesia history.  He currently is the president of the History of Anaesthesia Society (Great Britain). 
    • April 28, 2025:  David J. Wilkinson, M.B.B.S., is a retired consultant anaesthesiologist from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.  He was the 2008-2012 Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology’s Laureate of the History of Anesthesiology.  He also served as president of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists from 2008 through 2012.  He will present on April 28, 2025.
  • Continuation of our exhibit on the history of Anesthesia and our Mayo Clinic Department of Anesthesiology at the International Museum of Surgical Sciences in Chicago, Illinois through August 2025
  • The 2025 Anesthesia History Association’s spring meeting that will be held in Rochester on April 25th through 27th, 2025.  More information on the meeting may be found on the “Anesthesia History Association 2025 Annual Meeting” page.

Anesthesia History Association 2025 Annual Meeting

In 2025, from April 25th to April 27th, the annual meeting of the Anesthesia History Association (AHA) will be held in Rochester, Minnesota at Mayo Clinic. It will be co-hosted by Mayo Clinic’s Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine and the History of Anesthesia Society. 

During the First International Symposium of Modern Anesthesia History in Rotterdam in 1982, a group of members of the American Society Anesthesiologists (ASA) who were in attendance discussed the organization of an anesthesia history society in the United States. Later that year a larger group of ASA members met and by January 1983, the name “Anesthesia History Association” was agreed upon. The “Inaugural Meeting” of the AHA was then held on October 9, 1983. Their annual meeting occurs in the spring. The History of Anaesthesia Society was founded in 1986. The purpose of the Society is to promote the study of the history of anaesthesia and related disciplines. Their annual conference is held each fall.

You can learn more about the meeting by following the link here. You can also look for this page beneath the “Resources” tab at the top of this webpage.

Centennial Celebration Weekly Updates

From September 7, 2023, through November 7, 2024, Dr. Mark Warner and the rest of the Centennial Project Team produced and distributed weekly updates that contained very brief descriptions of articles or vignettes that highlighted the department’s development, remarkable personnel across the spectrum of the department (e.g., respiratory therapists, nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologists, scientists, and administrators), and contributions to the specialty’s advances and recognition.

These updates can be viewed on the Centennial Celebration Past Weekly Updates page. 

This webpage was designed in partnership between the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, the W. Bruce Fye Center for the History of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Archives in Rochester, and Mayo Clinic History & Heritage.  

The information, photographs, videos, and attachments that are found on this webpage have been curated together in partnership between the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, the W. Bruce Fye Center for the W. History of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Archives in Rochester, and Mayo Clinic Media Asset Management (MAM). 

Photographs used with permission of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. All rights reserved.