A story of medicine, volunteerism, and commitment to community well-being in Park City

John and Maura Hanrahan. Photo: Dana Klein Creative // Dana Klein

John and Maura Hanrahan forge a legacy of community and care

By Kirsten Kohlwey, Neighbors of Park City

John and Maura Hanrahan met while studying at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, where they developed a relationship in all the usual places, from orientation to anatomy lab. Maura was from Bethesda, John from Potomac – a mere eight miles apart. The pair later discovered they knew many of the same people, but it wasn’t until college, and a shared love of Family Medicine, that their two paths crossed.

Through a matching program for couples, they landed at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where they spent three years working in family medicine with minimal time off. It was then that John and Maura made a pact to never work more than 40 hours per week, leaving plenty of space in their schedule to pursue their passions for volunteer work. 

Maura’s sister was a family doctor in Salt Lake City, so the two spent vacations in Utah, eventually falling in love with skiing, river rafting, and kayaking. While attending a party in the fall near her sister’s home, Maura remembers the way other guests discussed eagerly awaiting winter, a concept foreign to her East Coast roots, “Where we were from, you just kind of made it through, plowed through winter, and waited for spring. To actually enjoy winter was a novel process.”

Despite still living out of town, John and Maura subscribed to a local Park City paper. John vividly remembers, “It was the spring of the potential K-Mart build and a fellow handcuffed themselves to a backhoe, and I thought, okay, here we go. Sounds like our kind of place.” Shortly thereafter, in 1992, John and Maura moved to Park City.

Upon their arrival to Utah, John Hanrahan took a job at the Park City Clinic, where he stayed for eight years. Maura worked in private practice at the Holy Cross Clinic in West Jordan, before transitioning for several years to work at the VA, ultimately retiring from United Healthcare Medicare in 2023. “The idea is to retire while you still have time and physical capacity to do things,” says Maura, who now consults on cognitive behavioral treatment for chronic insomnia and is quite engaged in her second career as a musician. 

Along with their work as clinicians, the Hanrahan’s are also responsible for two very prominent Park City non-profits: The People’s Health Clinic and Hope Alliance, the latter of which grew out of discussions with Joe Mitchell, a pastor, following a trip to Guatemala. John was moved by the suffering he saw and the help he and his team of physicians were able to provide. When they returned to the States, both he and Joe understood first-hand the need for continued support in developing areas. Through their work, Hope Alliance sent out multiple teams per year, of which John served on three to four of them,  volunteering as a doctor, along with Maura, in Mexico, Peru, Haiti, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Vanuatu. Once arriving at their destination, the teams would use whatever facilities could be arranged, from brick and mortar to catamaran. 

Along the way, John and Maura had two children – Liam, 21, a senior at the University of Utah studying mathematics, and Molly, 24, who graduated with degrees in both Health Society & Policy and International Relations and is currently working at USAID in Washington, D.C.

When the pandemic closed doors to neighboring nations, Hope Alliance focused its efforts locally. Instead of trips abroad, they started providing care at the Navajo Reservation. It was during this time that it became apparent they could no longer tackle every problem they encountered, so they narrowed their focus to supporting patients with vision care needs, which led to permanent facilities in both Park City and Moab. Today, a five-day trip to Uganda can serve an average of 1400 people, providing underserved communities with screenings, prescriptions, and glasses.

Twenty-five years ago, in addition to his work overseas, John co-founded The People’s Health Clinic,  a once-mobile healthcare clinic operated from a large moving truck, of which John has been both driver and clinician. In 2009, in partnership with Intermountain Healthcare and Summit County, The People’s Health Clinic found permanent roots in Round Valley, where John served as Medical Director until his retirement in 2021. Along the way, John also served on the Summit County Council and has volunteered with CONNECT, the PC Fire District Administrative Control Board, and the Rotary Club, where he has remained for the last 24 years, acting as the club’s District Governor for Utah since 2019. Maura joined the local Twilight Rotary Club in 2019 and was made President in 2023.

For Maura, music has always been a parallel passion. After attending an Earth, Wind & Fire concert when their kids were just ten and 13 years old, she asked for an electric guitar for her birthday. Now, in her retirement, Maura plays rhythm guitar and sings with The Fuse, an R&B band in Park City, and The Fuse Duo, a scaled-down version of The Fuse, which can be booked for restaurants, wedding ceremonies, private and corporate events.

With a full 40 hours a week to contend with, free of their paid professions and head-long into retirement, John and Maura are free to pursue passions close to their heart. With family, friends, travel, and music at the helm, the pair leave a wake that weaves into the very fabric of Park City’s medical system, continuing to be cornerstones of care, compassion, and community for both Summit County and beyond.