Spartan Profiles: Shirley Weis

ASSURING CHOICE AT MAYO CLINIC

            The Mayo Clinic has long enjoyed global prestige in health care. Helping maintain Mayo's renowned standard of excellence is Shirley Weis, '75, newly named chair of The Mayo Clinic's Dept. of Managed Care, in Rochester, MN. 'Here there's a commitment to and a real belief in serving the patient,' says Weis. 'It's not a cookie-cutter approach. It's a perfect cultural fit for me, because the nursing program at MSU drilled into me this dedication to excellence, especially placing the needs of the patient first.'

            In her new position, she oversees contracting activities and Mayo health plans in Rochester, MN, LaCrosse, WI, Scottsdale, AZ and Jacksonville, FL with 200,000 covered patients and $500 million in yearly revenues.

            The common denominator of these plans is the ability to choose the Mayo Clinic. 'I love it,' says Shirley, who previously was COO of Blue Care Network-Health Central in Lansing. 'There's so much variety in what we do, from our new 24-hour nurse triage program to contracting with insurance companies.'

            After serving as a nurse for 10 years, Shirley advanced meteorically in health care management thanks to her MSU education, she says. 'The breadth and depth of the MSU nursing program gave me an opportunity to choose different avenues,' she says. 'MSU gives you a tremendous foundation and teaches you a technical and problem-solving mindset that allows you to do anything.'

            Shirley says the one downside of her current job is that she really misses MSU. 'Living in the Lansing area, I took MSU for granted. My appreciation has grown as I've gone away. But I've found a nice cadre of Spartans here (Rochester, MN). Everyone around here knows I'm from MSU. I still have my Sparty mug.'