About Myself

Dr. Jan Gurley, a board-certified internist physician, is the only Harvard Medical School graduate to have been awarded a Shoney’s Ten-Step Pin for documented excellence in waitressing. Having achieved this pinnacle of greatness early in life, Doc Gurley inevitably spiraled downward. Jaded, and afraid of becoming known as a waitressing has-been, she tried years of basic science research in labs (graduating magna cum laude from Harvard), then did a residency at UCSF in Internal Medicine, then received a Robert Wood Johnson Fellowship (Stanford/UCSF Joint Program) in epidemiology, public health and public policy. Like many teen-waitress-celebrities, Doc Gurley eventually matured enough to realize there could be more to her life than a polyester apron, an order pad and a pitcher of sweet tea.

Her health/science background covers the vast territory from sub-cell systems, to human studies, to the captivating science of seeing patients one-on-one. She is microscopically-famous within the airless halls of cloistered Medicine for two things – 1) for being the first to describe and study a syndrome where the isolated elderly and ill are found helpless/dead in their homes (the Gurley Found Down Study), and 2) for being the first to proudly attach her name to the stages of breasts sag-age (the Gurley Stages of Breast Regression). Musical Mission Statement: Doc Gurley’s motto when it comes to health writing is: Just A Spoonful of Humor Helps The…well, even without Julie Andrews breaking into song, you get the idea. Doc Gurley’s health writing has appeared in Salon, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the Chronicle Sunday magazine, with letters in the Washington Post and UK’s Daily Telegraph. Her research has appeared in academic publications including the New England Journal of Medicine. You can read more about her at www.docgurley.com.