Mary Gurney

Fellow

Mary Gurney, RPh, PhD, BCPA, FAPhA is a pharmacist educator with a practice background in community pharmacy. She is passionate about working with her student pharmacists to focus on the patient first - learning what they can from the patient and then working with the patient (and their caregivers) to be able to care for themselves.

This passion for placing the patient first led to the development of the initial course she taught, Patient Decision-Making, and the revised course, People, Patients, and Populations. Both courses address micro, meso, and macro-level issues in healthcare from various partner groups, ranging from individuals to public health.

Personally and professionally, Mary is a fierce advocate for patients to be active in their healthcare and for pharmacists and pharmacy students to see the whole person in their patients. It is this passion that led Mary to obtain her board certification as a patient advocate (BCPA).

Mary is a Professor at Midwestern University College of Pharmacy, Glendale Campus and in addition to her People, Patients, and Populations course, she teaches Pharmacy Law and Public Policy (pharmacists have a pharmacy law exam to pass as part of their licensure process in most states), and a Book Club elective that currently uses Lisa Sanders' book, "Every Patient Tells a Story" which focuses a great deal on the importance of getting the patient's story to solve a medical mystery.