Prathibha Varkey named President of Mayo Clinic Health System

Prathibha Varkey, M.B.B.S., has been named president of Mayo Clinic Health System, effective August 16, 2021.

Dr. Varkey will partner with Mary Jo Williamson, chief administrative officer, Mayo Clinic Health System, to lead the strategy and operations of the health system’s 17 hospitals and nearly 50 community clinics across Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Dr. Varkey, who is board-certified in internal medicine and general preventive medicine, previously practiced medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester for 11 years. During her tenure, she also led several initiatives in quality improvement, faculty development and medical education, and managed consumer-facing health care business products.

She left Mayo Clinic in 2013 to serve as CEO of Seton Clinical Enterprise in Austin, Texas. Since 2016, Dr. Varkey has served as president and CEO of Northeast Medical Group within Yale New Haven Health in New Haven, Connecticut.

Dr. Varkey earned her medical degree from Christian Medical College, Vellore, in Tamil Nadu, India. She completed her internal medicine residency at Yale New Haven Health’s Hospital of St. Raphael. She has a Masters of Public Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Masters of Health Professions Education from University of Illinois Medical Center, an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota, and an honorary Masters of Arts from Yale University.

Dr. Varkey succeeds Bobbie Gostout, M.D., who retired from Mayo Clinic in December 2020.