Meet Matt McGowan
Mount Horeb Family Pharmacy Co-Owner and Lead Pharmacist
How long have you worked in the pharmacy business?
I’ve worked in pharmacy for almost 20 years. After high school, I attended UW-Platteville for three years, before graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010 with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Following graduation, I have had a variety of experiences ranging from “big-box” pharmacy to hospital pharmacy, then back to small town community pharmacy. I’ve been practicing as a licensed pharmacist for 12 years.
How long have you lived/worked (or both) in Mount Horeb?
I grew up in Darlington, WI — a similar community to Mount Horeb, about an hour to the southwest. My family and I moved to Mount Horeb in 2016 and bought our home in town in 2017.
In terms of working in Mount Horeb, I had helped Dave and Karen cover some weekends and time off since 2012, so I have been filling in when needed at Mount Horeb Pharmacy for the past 10 years. Then I started working at the store several days a week in 2019.
What is your favorite part of the job?
Getting to know patients and their families on a personal level and making a difference in their day-to-day lives as well as their quality of life. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing I was able to help a patient in some way — by answering a question or helping with a medication change that truly made a difference for them.
I’m passionate about providing outstanding customer service. Being able to practice in our own locally-owned independent store allows me the freedom to perform high-level services beyond just dispensing medications. I can take the time necessary to not only meet, but to always do my best to go above and beyond our patient’s needs and expectations.
What do you like doing in your free time?
Family and friends are the most important things in my life. I enjoy spending most of my free time with my wife Kayla, our three boys: Maxton (8), William (6), Clayton (4), and our dog Bernie. We often take time to visit our home towns of Belmont and Darlington, visiting family and friends. When I am not spending time with family, I have been training for and participating in short distance triathlons, so I enjoy swimming, biking and running. I love golfing, camping, hunting, water sports and traveling. I am also an avid sports fan — so I try to catch all of the Badger, Packer, Brewer, Bucks and Mount Horeb Viking games I possibly can!
Being able to practice in our own locally-owned independent store allows me the freedom to perform high-level services beyond just dispensing medications. I can take the time necessary to not only meet, but to always do my best to go above and beyond our patient’s needs and expectations.
Do you have any professional accolades you’d like to highlight?
Buying my own pharmacy!
Where do you see the profession of pharmacy going?
Pharmacy is continually evolving — originally it was a compounding role, then a dispensing role and now more towards a patient-centered healthcare provider role. Pharmacists are more responsible than ever for providing knowledge and education to our patients, to help them live their best quality lives. Pharmacists will continue to expand the services they provide, not only including testing such as COVID testing, but also other various point-of-care testing such as strep or influenza, lab screenings, blood pressure and wellness checks. Pharmacists will continue to evolve and become a larger part of the patient-provider team.
Anything else we should know?
Although I am passionate about wellness and fitness, I still have not learned everything about it. We will continue to bring in high-quality products to improve our patient’s lives, and I look forward to learning more and discussing these products with our patients and members of our community.
I hope you stop in to meet me and possibly fill some prescriptions, or just to chat about your bucket list or current sporting events.