Guiding Lights

Today there are no better places on earth for medical treatment than these 150

Mayo Clinic

ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA ► Brothers William and Charles Mayo were part of a group of physicians who founded the Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in 1889. It now has dozens of locations in five U.s.states and around the world, employees a 73,000-person workforce and cares for more than 1.3 million people each year with serious or complex illnesses. Since its founding, the Clinic has been an integrated practice, meaning it is an institution that can bring together doctors and other professionals from across specialties to treat patients. A renowed transplant center, the Clinic is also highly regarded for expertise in several specialty areas, particularly diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatrics and gynecology. ⚫ mayoclinic.org

Cleveland Clinic

CLEVELAND ►The Cleveland Clinic was founded over 100 year ago and now encompasses 19 hospitals with 5,900 beds and more than 220 outpatient locations in the U.S. and internationally. It has more than 4,600 physicians and scientists in multiple fields as well as over 14,000 registered nurses. In 2020, Cleveland Clinic treated 2.4 million patients, with 273,000 admissions and observations, 217,000 surgeries and other procedures and 8.7 million outpatient visits. Cleveland Clinic was one of the first academic medical centers in the U.S. to offer COVID-19 diagnostic testing. Highly rated in several specialties, Cleveland Clinic has been a longtime leader in cardiology and heart surgery. ⚫ my.clevelandclinic.org

Massachusetts General

BOSTON

► The first and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, Massachussetts General was founded in 1811 to provide health care to all of Boston’s sick, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Mass General currently employs more than 25,000 people and its main campus handles about 1.5. million outpatient visits every year. The hospital now has about 1,000 beds and admits roughly 50,000 patients per year. ⚫ massgeneral.org

Toronto General University Health Network

TORONTO

► Toronto General is the flagship of the University Health Network, which also includes Toronto Western Hospital, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and The Michener Institute of Education. It was founded in 1819. The first single lung transplant was performed here in 1983, and the first double lung transplant was done at TGH three years later. TGH is the largest transplant center in North America. In 2020, it had 456 beds and had more than 56,000 visits to its emergency room. TGH in 2020 had 1,103 full time physicians and 4,297 nurses. ⚫ uhn.ca/ourhospitals/tgh

Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin

BERLIN ► Founded 312 years ago when bubonic plague threatened Berlin, it is now one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. Researchers here developed the first diagnostic test to identify the COVID-19 coronavirus. Across its four Berlin campuses, the hospital now has 3,000 beds, 4,693 scientists and doctors and more than 4,707 nurses and caregivers. ⚫ charite.de

The Johns Hopkins Hospital

BALTIMORE ► The Johns Hopkins Hospital was founded in 1889 in Baltimore and has had a central role in the history and development of American medical education. Today, the hospital has more than 2,400 full-time attending physicians, more than 1,100 beds, admits more than 95,500 patients and has nearly 280,000 emergency room visits annually. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center’s comprehensive global dashboard, launched on January 22, 2020, was one of the first global maps to track COVID-19 cases and deaths. ⚫ hopkinsmedicine.org

Hôpital Universitaire Pitié Salpêtrière

PARIS ► France’s largest hospital has a storied history, originally housed in what had been a gunpowder factory which was then converted to a hospice for the poor in 1656 and finally became a medical facility during the French Revolution. Today, this public health hospital with over 1,700 beds specializes in teaching and research; its staff contributes to close to 2,000 scientific publications annually. Its more than 70 medical specialties are supported by 26 centers for rare diseases.⚫ pitiesalpetriere.aphp.fr

Karolinska University Hospital

SOLNA, SWEDEN

► The hospital, with about 15,800 employees and 1,600 beds, is affiliated with the Karolinska Institute, which was founded in 1810 by Sweden’s King Karl XIII as a school for military surgeons. Today it is one of the largest and most prestigious medical schools in the world and has reorganized its patient care under several themes: children; heart, vascular and neuro; cancer; inflammation and aging; trauma and reparative medicine; and women’s health and allied health professionals. Its new hospital building in Solna, first opened in 2016, uses sustainable materials and has a patient-first focus, providing all patients with single rooms that include an extra bed for family members, enhancing privacy and limiting the spread of infection. ⚫ karolinska.se/en/karolinska-university-hospital

UCLA Health – Ronald Reagan Medical Center

LOS ANGELES

► The 1-million square foot Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center, part of the larger UCLA Health, includes the main hospital as well as specialized neuropsychiatric and children’s hospitals under the same roof. Founded in 1955, the Center prides itself on its state-of-theart physical space built in 2008 and designed by Pei Partnership Architects. The facility incorporates many outdoor spaces and light-filled pavilions to enhance wellness and promote healing. The hospital has 520 beds and its emergency department cares for over 50,000 patients annually. The building’s design allows for maximum flexibility, for instance by converting any patient room into an ICU and providing labor, delivery and recovery for birthing mothers without the need to change rooms. ⚫ uclahealth.org/reagan/

Shebamedicalcenter

RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL ► The Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv, is Israel’s largest hospital. It was founded in 1948 as the country’s first military hospital. Today, the center is home to four hospitals (acute care, rehab, children’s and maternity) and two institutes (heart and cancer). It has 159 medical departments and clinics, 1,700 physicians and about 2,000 beds. A major medical research center with 75 laboratories, Sheba conducts 3,300 clinical trials per year. One example of Sheba’s innovation is its Virtual Reality Rehabilitation Center, the first of its kind worldwide, which allows patients to practice their skills in settings that mimic real world conditions. ⚫ eng.sheba.co.il