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Student and Faculty Profiles

Meet Dr. Mary P. Guerrera...

Department of Family Medicine
Professor

As a native New Englander, I have enjoyed training and living in this beloved region of seasonal cycles and outdoor adventure. Growing up in Massachusetts, I was the older of two daughters raised by parents who have been my greatest inspiration and role models: Dad an English teacher and principal extraordinaire, and Mom a registered nurse who loves fishing and theater. Valuing time with family and enjoying the diversity of life’s offerings, we spent many weekends and all our summers together at our cottage on the Connecticut shore. Here my fascination with nature and an intimate association with the elemental rhythms of wind, water and tide grew and evolved. Marine biology intrigued me as I appreciated the beauty and scientific wonders of the inter-tidal zone, while perusing Rachel Carlson’s books. Such curiosities lead me to the study of biology when I attended Mount Holyoke College. This close knit, liberal arts community fostered faculty ties and encouraged breath and depth of intellectual inquiry. Here, as I studied philosophy, comparative religion and art history alongside my biology and organic chemistry classes, it seemed the ‘different’ disciplines were really quite the ‘same’ via some ineffable thread. Humanism and the sciences thus began to meld, and my desire to become a physician blossomed – to serve others; to live a life of meaning and purpose.

Thus after graduating cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, I went on to receive my medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. I then headed north to complete a residency at the Maine Medical/Mercy Hospital Family Practice Residency Program in Portland, Maine which afforded me excellent training punctuated with many walks by the sea. My holistic views were validated day by day. What better way to care for unique, multidimensional human beings than within the context of the whole person – mind, body and spirit?

Having completed my residency, I returned to Connecticut where my family still summers to join the Department of Family Medicine. Over the years I have developed special interests in integrative/complementary and alternative medicine. As a founding diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine. I am now honored to serve on their board of trustees, and also represent the University of Connecticut School of Medicine as a member of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine.

In 2003 I became a principle investigator of the four-year Educational Development for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (EDCAM) Project Grant sponsored by the American Medical Student Association Foundation, to help facilitate the integration of CAM into the standard curriculum. I have completed formal training in medical acupuncture and mind-body medicine, both of which I incorporate into my clinical practice. Other areas of interest include homeopathy and palliative/end-of-life care. I enjoy teaching and learning with residents and medical students, as well as developing innovative curricula. Our school’s medical students are awesome – open, curious and creative; likewise I find my faculty colleagues to be passionate teachers, dedicated to the enhancement of educational experiences and to the student’s journey of becoming a healer.

With great love for adventure and the outdoors, my amateur marine biologist interests will find me on, in or under the water either sailing, sea-kayaking, or scuba diving. Recent trips to the Caribbean have included snorkeling with wild dolphin and humpback whales, each renewing my appreciation of our planet's life force and wonderful diversity!