Mary Brennan-Taylor
When Mary Brennan-Taylor lost her mother, Alice Brennan, to a series of preventable medical errors, including polypharmacy, multiple Healthcare Acquired Infections and falls, she wasn’t interested in suing the healthcare facilities where the mistakes had been made; she was interested in health system culture change and making a difference for future patients, especially geriatric patients who are most vulnerable to health care induced harm while in transition across various health care settings, so that they would not suffer the same fate as her mother.
By turning grief into action, Brennan-Taylor brings that culture change directly to medical, pharmacy, physical therapy and nursing students at Niagara University, D’Youville College and the University at Buffalo, collaborating with the Department of Family Medicine on a unique interdisciplinary program deemed “Team Alice” that educates future doctors, nurses, physical therapists and pharmacists about the human impact of medical harm and the actions they can take to prevent such harm.
Mary is the Vice President of Programs for the YWCA of Niagara and an adjunct research instructor of Family Medicine at the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.