May 4, 2021
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Mary McClurg, Pharm.D., M.H.S., was selected in 2019 to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committee on Implementing High-Quality Primary Care.
This ad hoc committee, under the auspices of the NASEM, examined the current state of primary care in the United States and developed an implementation plan to build upon the recommendations from the 1996 IOM report, “Primary Care: America’s Health in a New Era,” to strengthen primary care services in the United States, especially for underserved populations, and to inform primary care systems around the world.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care report will be released today. Members of the committee who wrote the new report will give an overview of the key issues, conclusions, and recommendations via a webinar today, Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at 1 p.m. ET. You can register for the event here.
“I am so humbled to have been nominated and selected to this important committee,” McClurg said. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the profession to have a voice at the table on such an important report to inform the future of primary care. It has been a privilege and an honor to work with the members of this committee and the NASEM staff.”
McClurg practiced as a clinical pharmacist in inpatient medicine within the VA Health System (1995-1998) and then transitioned to clinical practice in primary care and geriatrics, providing patient care as part of an interdisciplinary team (1998-2007).
McClurg has focused her research on advancing the role of the clinical pharmacist in patient-centered, team-based primary care, with the goal of optimizing medication use through the delivery of comprehensive medication management (CMM) to improve care in patients with multiple chronic diseases.
McClurg is now the executive vice dean-chief academic officer at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She completed her Pharm.D. and residency training at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and received her Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Research from Duke University School of Medicine. She is a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
Study sponsors for the report include the following: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; American Academy of Family Physicians; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Board of Pediatrics; American College of Physicians; American Geriatrics Society; Academic Pediatric Association; Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine; Blue Shield of CA; The Commonwealth Fund; Department of Veterans Affairs; FMA Health; Health Resources and Services Administration; New York State Healthcare Foundation; Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute; Samueli Foundation; and the Society of General Internal Medicine.
Additional NASEM information can be found on the NASEM website.