A Maltese doctor, Gianrico Farrugia, has been named as the next president and CEO of the Mayo Clinic, one of the oldest and largest integrated medical centres in the world.

Prof. Farrugia, who has been vice president of the Mayo Clinic, and CEO of the Mayo Clinic in Florida since January 2015, will succeed John Noseworthy.

“I am humbled and proud to follow and build upon this success with the best staff in the world,” Prof. Farrugia said.

“While sea change continues to sweep through health care, I look forward to harnessing innovation, a hallmark of Mayo Clinic, to transform health care for the benefit of patients everywhere.”

A native of Malta, Prof. Farrugia has spent 30 years as a Mayo physician. He is a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees and Mayo Clinic Board of Governors.

He also is a professor of medicine and physiology, and a faculty member in biomedical engineering at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Dr Farrugia completed his undergraduate training at St Aloysius College, Birkirkara, Malta, and earned his medical degree from the University of Malta Medical School.

He has published more than 250 articles on genomics and the treatment of disorders of gastrointestinal motility.

With a staff of more than 68,000 and revenue of nearly $12 billion, Mayo Clinic cares for more than 1.3 million patients from all 50 US states and nearly 140 countries each year.