June 17, 2025

By Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science staff

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Mayo Clinic alumni across the years reflect on their education at Mayo Clinic and how it has impacted them over the years.

Stella Hartono, M.D., Ph.D., (MDPH ’17, IMM ’17), attended Mayo Clinic in Rochester for M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, followed by residency in the pediatrician scientist training and development program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She currently works at the Baz Allergy, Asthma, and Sinus Center in California.

I was doing my pediatric rotations at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and we had a high-risk patient with a shunt who needed antibiotics. We prescribed an antibiotic, discharged her, and then we cultured the bacteria and found that the bacteria were actually resistant to the antibiotic that we gave her. Typically, I would just call and explain that we need to switch the antibiotic. But this patient lived in a rural religious community with limited phone access and no internet. She was a high-risk patient, and she needed the antibiotic. What could we do?

I called the pharmacy, and said, “If we can deliver this medication to this child, can you prep it and have it ready?” And they said, “We can do that.” I called the police department where the patient lived, saying, “If we can send someone over there, can you meet them and escort them to the property? They said, “We’ll do you one better: We’ll meet the police department from Rochester halfway and we’ll deliver it to the kid.”

So I had the Rochester Police Department meet me at Saint Marys. I picked up the medication from the pharmacy and gave it to them. They drove it 30 or 60 miles and then the other police department picked it up and made sure the patient got it. Thinking about my time training elsewhere, they would have laughed at me if I had asked people to do this. It took a lot of phone calls and a lot of coordination. But I didn’t mind doing it, because everyone said, “We’ll do whatever you need. Just tell us what you need.”

I think it illustrates that the principle of “the needs of the patient come first” is embraced not only by Mayo Clinic physicians, but by the whole Mayo Clinic team — and the surrounding community.

This and other alumni stories originally appeared in the 2025 issue 1 of Mayo Clinic Alumni Magazine.