Mayo Clinic CEO hugs furry new partner

Mayo Clinic President and CEO Dr. John Noseworthy took the stage at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York this week with a new kind of partner – Sesame Street Muppet Rosita – and announced a new initiative to promote healthy behavior and disease prevention among women and children in five Latin American countries.

Here’s a video of Noseworthy and his furry friend Rosita:

Noseworthy and Rosita were joined onstage by Rosario Perez, President and CEO of ProMujer; Adele Gulfo, President of Pfizer Latin America; and H. Melvin Ming, President of Sesame Street Workshop.

The group announced the launch this fall of ‘Healthy Connections,’ a collaboration to deliver healthy messages to women and families in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Peru, Mexico and Argentina. The World Health Organization estimates chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and stroke cause 68 percent of deaths in Latin America.

ProMujer’s network of health clinics and clinicians will have remote access to Mayo’s women’s health and wellness specialists through the clinic’s “Ask Mayo Expert” online resources. Sesame Street will use its Latin American Plaza Sesamo Muppets to disseminate the health information to women and children in the five countries. Pfizer will provide technical assistance and funding for the project.

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