Benefactor Stories > Seeing A(I) Solution

Seeing A(I) Solution

Stephen and Linda Odell believe in Mayo Clinic’s abilities to help individuals on a global scale through artificial intelligence advances.

By Colin Fly Photography by Pete Pallagi

Stephen Odell is gracious and gregarious talking about the ins and outs of his interesting life story. But he turns suddenly serious amid a conversation over coffee in his breakfast nook in Paradise Valley, Arizona — this story is not and cannot be about him and his lovely wife, Linda.

It’s about Mayo Clinic and the future of medicine through the lens of artificial intelligence (AI), one they’re helping kick-start through a sizable philanthropic gift to transform the future of healthcare under Mayo Clinic’s direction.

“The Odells aren’t doing any of this because they want to be liked or recognized,” says Richard Gray, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. “Their focus is on, ‘How do we have a positive impact on as many people as possible?’ And they want to encourage others to join them in their efforts.”

Away From the Camera

While the Odells are not asking for this spotlight, oh, what a story it is.

Linda moved to Southern California with $500 and a Dodge Dart to her name, starting work making $90 a week at what was then known as Security Pacific National Bank. She caught the attention of those in the entertainment industry along the way. There’s even a picture in their home featuring Linda on the set of “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.

Meanwhile, Stephen drove a truck, delivering fish in the Los Angeles area as a young man. He struck up a relationship with the Tober family, who owned what was then a small family company known as Sugar Foods.

Donald Tober asked Stephen to work for him and had a proposition: help distribute a sugar substitute product known as Sweet’N Low. Donald grabbed a cocktail napkin and drew a map of the United States with the Mississippi River in the middle. With one arrow to the West, he labeled it Stephen’s territory. Donald took the Eastern United States for himself.

“Within weeks of accepting the job in 1969, the government banned cyclamates, which was the sweetener ingredient in Sweet’N Low at the time,” Stephen recalls. “Therefore, the company had no sales.”

Sweet’N Low changed its formula, and the associated distribution company grew over the ensuing decades due to Stephen’s and Donald’s grit.

“That’s where we started — and today, Sugar Foods products are consumed more than 1,500 times every second across the globe,” Stephen says.

Loving Humankind

Linda and Stephen met on a blind date later in their lives, and for more than 15 years they have been a constant at each other’s side. When searching for the best healthcare in Arizona, friends pointed them to Mayo Clinic. A routine physical for Stephen discovered prostate cancer.

Linda’s first husband died of prostate cancer. It remains a painful milestone in her life that she didn’t want to repeat.

After Stephen’s cancer care, we looked for a philanthropic journey to go on. Mayo Clinic felt like the right place to give.
— Linda Odell

“I was not going to lose Stephen,” she says. At Mayo Clinic, Stephen was an ideal candidate for proton beam therapy, a form of radiation that reduces the risk of damage to healthy tissues surrounding tumor cells. Studies have suggested that proton therapy may cause fewer side effects than traditional radiation, since doctors can better control where the proton beams deliver their energy.

“At Mayo, obviously the core principle is the patient comes first,” Stephen says. “Every interaction I had with someone at Mayo was welcoming — from volunteers to schedulers. Everybody that took my hand and walked me through the waiting room to every doctor that I saw on follow-up — I’ve never had a bad interaction ever.”

But the Odells saw more people in need all around than even Mayo could help. What could they do for people beyond the waiting rooms preparing for cancer treatment? What about those across the United States or across the globe?

“Dr. Gray was the first person we went to when we asked, ‘What can we do?’ He told us about the burgeoning role of AI in healthcare. And I said, ‘That’s it.’ That was all it took,” Stephen says.

Those plans are part of Mayo Clinic’s Bold. Forward. strategic vision to Cure by accelerating discovery, translation and delivery of more cures for both chronic and acute diseases; Connect people with data to create new knowledge and deliver scalable, end-to-end solutions; and Transform healthcare by creating its first scalable, AI-enabled care transformation platform.

“After Stephen’s cancer care, we looked for a philanthropic journey to go on,” Linda says. “Mayo Clinic felt like the right place to give.”

Building a Posse

Stephen’s favorite movie is “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” The 1969 iconic Western follows a band of outlaws in the 1890s in Wyoming with a posse of law enforcement on their heels after a botched train robbery.

The metaphor appeals to the Odells, building a group to relentlessly pursue a goal. But this one isn’t a Hollywood script about law enforcement officials and thieves. It’s a much more serious and even more ambitious goal than a timeless blockbuster — democratizing healthcare through artificial intelligence to help as many people as possible. And the Odells are asking people to join their drive to change the world behind Mayo Clinic’s efforts.

“This is a place where Mayo Clinic has to step forward as a leader,” Dr. Gray says. “Many of us can see the promise of AI. But it’s hard to innovate. And it’s even harder to make sure that those innovations can reach broad populations.

“If we approach it as a leader, creating a platform from which all can benefit, that is a much different proposition than saying we’re going to harness this technology to do something on our own for just our patients. The Odells immediately grasped our work in AI. That benefit to society really resonates with them.”

Mayo Clinic has more than 250 AI algorithms in various stages of development and use, from predicting serious conditions before they cause symptoms to a digital healthcare assistant that uses generative AI to allow a clinician to quickly ask questions and pull relevant information from a patient’s electronic health record.

Importantly, Mayo Clinic built Mayo Clinic Platform that allows for impactful and validated AI models to be created and be made available widely so AI solutions can benefit more of the United States and the world — just as the Odells want to see happen.

“We’re harnessing the innovative power of so many of our physicians, scientists, nurses and other experts at Mayo Clinic to fuel the AI revolution safely and responsibly,” Dr. Gray says. “But we’re doing so along with many other values-aligned organizations and innovators, so the network effects create impact at a scale that isn’t possible if any of us were doing it alone.”

The Future of Care

A key figure in Mayo’s AI efforts is radiologist Bhavik Patel, M.D., M.B.A., who spearheads Mayo Clinic in Arizona’s AI work. Dr. Patel’s commitment to AI grew out of the same dedication as the Odells’: He wants to make the biggest difference for the largest number of patients possible.

“Not everyone has access to Mayo Clinic,” Dr. Patel says. “Imagine if we could use these types of tools to extend the Mayo model of care beyond our clinic walls.

“If we’re really going to democratize the care we give, the future of healthcare should be one where hospitals are largely empty, because we’re using these types of tools to provide so much immersive care up front. Patients will be treated in their homes, and your clinician will be able to communicate with and care for you without ever setting your foot in a hospital.”

We’re harnessing the innovative power of so many of our physicians, scientists, nurses and other experts at Mayo Clinic to fuel the AI revolution safely and responsibly.
— Richard Gray, M.D.

And the Odells see the horizon shifting for how care is delivered for many people.

“The gift we gave is only the beginning, and we want others to join us,” Stephen says. “We want everyone to know the importance of supporting projects like these so that by 2030 over 3 billion people will have access to AI to address health issues.

“By investing in AI advancements, we can slow down what I call sick care and truly make it healthcare. Linda and I believe AI is going to play a huge role getting us to that point. Our footprints will fade away like steps in snow, but we hope we made a difference that far outlives us through our support of Mayo Clinic.”