ROCHESTER, Minn. — A $20 million gift from Dwight and Dian Diercks will support key elements of Mayo Clinic’s future healthcare vision, including the Mayo Clinic Platform and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for early cancer detection and intervention. In recognition of their contribution, Mayo Clinic will establish the Dwight and Dian Diercks President, Mayo Clinic Platform, and create the Heidi Diercks Krause Fund in AI Innovation for Cancer, named after Mr. Diercks’ late sister.
"The Dierckses’ visionary investment will bolster Mayo Clinic’s efforts through the Platform to curate the world's de-identified data, empower solution developers and transform healthcare around the world," said John Halamka, M.D., the inaugural Dwight and Dian Diercks President, Mayo Clinic Platform.
“Through the reach of Mayo Clinic Platform, the Dierckses’ remarkable generosity will accelerate new innovations that fundamentally change how health systems and care teams provide care to improve patients' lives,” added Dr. Halamka.
Mayo Clinic Platform is a significant part of Mayo Clinic’s Bold. Forward. strategy aimed at transforming global healthcare. The platform collaborates with solution developers, data partners, and healthcare organizations to utilize secure, de-identified clinical data for creating digital health solutions. It currently offers access to a dataset of 46 million de-identified patient records along with AI model validation for accuracy and bias removal.
The Heidi Diercks Krause Fund in AI Innovation for Cancer aims to advance answers for cancer through Mayo Clinic’s Generative Artificial Intelligence Program and Comprehensive Cancer Center. This includes developing advanced generative AI tools to assess an individual’s risk of developing cancer for earlier clinical interventions.
“We are profoundly grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Diercks for their support, which will help us bring the promise of AI to patients at the earliest phases of their care journeys,” said Matthew Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., medical director for Strategy at Mayo Clinic.
As senior vice president of software engineering at NVIDIA, Mr. Diercks has been involved in AI innovation since its inception.
“We can't afford to wait years or decades for new AI breakthroughs in healthcare,” said Mr. Diercks. “Dian and I truly believe that Mayo Clinic Platform and AI innovation will be key to better predicting diseases like cancer so physicians can intervene sooner with more effective treatments.”
Mr. Diercks grew up near Red Wing, Minnesota—close to Rochester—and worked on his family’s farm as a teenager while his family relied on Mayo Clinic for complex health needs.
“I tell my friends that receiving care at Mayo Clinic is like being at the intersection of medicine and hardcore engineering,” he noted.
Mr. Diercks earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). The couple has also supported MSOE's computer science program in applied AI and supercomputing extensively.
