The Doctors Mayo Society

Meet Our Members: Profiles

Dr. Victoria Beckett

Throughout her 17 year career at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Victoria Beckett enjoyed caring for arthritic patients conducting executive exams, serving on her division's education committee, performing hospital service and attending outside medical meetings. She developed a special niche of expertise in scleraderma, and her drug studies on patients with this disease generated several research publications. Dr. Beckett retired in 1990.

Today, Dr. Beckett and her husband, Joe Sharp, Ph.D., a retired Mayo computer scientist, enjoy living at Charter House, a retirement community affiliated with Mayo Clinic. During her retirement, Dr. Beckett keeps active. She earned the Master of Arts degree from Saint Mary's University and stays in shape by teaching a weekly therapeutic Tai Chi class. Her interestes include complimentary and alternative medicine to supplement care for chronic disease patients.

When she retired, she established a charitable gift annuity through Mayo Foundation, "I thought it was a practical way to give money to Mayo and provide a supplemental income for myself," she says. Dr. Beckett funded her annuities through gifts of appreciated stock and avoided much of the capital gains tax.

She recently completed her will and plans to leave her entire estate to Mayo when she dies. "The organization is doing so much good in so many ways," she says. "In order to survive and thrive, Mayo needs our help." Dr. Beckett has dedicated her gift to genomics research to revoluntionize medicine and make pharaceuticials more effective.

Dr. WiIlliam K. and Carla M. Hummer

During his 30 years in obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. William K. Hummer delivered more than 7,000 babies. A native of Iowa, Dr. Hummer attended undergraduate and medical school at the University of Iowa. He interned at Los Angeles County General Hospital, and at the urging of a family friend and Mayo Alumnus, Dr. George Hummer (a distant relative), he visited Mayo Clinic to interview for the residency program in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

He was a resident at Mayo from 1965-1969. After completion of his residency at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Hummer joined The Santa Monica Obstetrical-Gynecological Medical Group and practiced at Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif.

As Dr. Hummer's career progressed, he became active in many other aspects of medicine. He served as president of the medical staff of Saint Johns Health Center and susequently was elected to its board of trustees, serving both as president and chairman of the board. In 1981, then-President Ronald Reagan appointed Dr. Hummer to the President's Committee on Mental Retardation.

Dr. Hummer also served on Mayo Clinic Alumni Association Board of Directors in the early 1980s and has remained a member of the Committee on Development. As a result of his ongoing philanthropic efforts at Mayo, he says, "I have learned that people give to people. Fundraisers are successful when they deal personally with the potential benefactors."

Both Dr. Hummber and his wife, Carla, realize that the quality of patient care, which is the vanguard of treatment at Mayo Clinic, serves patients everywhere. "Mayo Clinic is like Notre Dame. Graduates from Notre Dame go all over the world, but they are always from Notre Dame. It is the same with Mayo Clinic. The pride of the alumni will make us always "from Mayo Clinic".

Dr. Judy Schmidt

When Dr. Judy Schmidt began medical school at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, she had every intention of becoming a family physician. It wouldn't be until she began her residency program at the University of California-Davis that Dr. Schmidt would be introduced to the complex world of hematology/oncology. It became clear that cancer therapies were reapidly changing, and in 1985 Dr. Schmidt decided to apply to Mayo Clinic Rochester's sub-specialty program in heamtology/oncology.

After her training, Dr. Schmidt moved to the picturesque town of Missoula, Mont., in 1988 to join a colleague from Mayo in a multi-specialty practice. Inspired by the education and care she and her family received at Mayo, and by her drive to help cancer patients, Dr. Schmidt decided to open her own practice in 1991. Within the first three months her business tripled. Today, she sees approximately 5,500 patients a year - the equivalent of three or four physicians.

Dr. Schmidt models her practice after Mayo. "Mayo reinforced that the needs of the patient come first," she says. Having grown up in a family of modest income, Dr. Schmidt is passionate about her philanthropy. In 1999, she established a not-for-profit organizaiton called Guardian Angels to raise money for cancer patients who can't afford to pay medical and travel expenses, as well as expenses their insurance companies won't cover.

In addition to wilderness and cancer organizations, Dr. Schmidt also contributes to Mayo through The Doctors Mayo Society. "Without the education I received at Mayo, I wouldn't be where I am today," says Dr. Schmidt. "Philanthropy allows me to show my appreciation and hopefully give other young physicians the same opportunities."