With Her New Private Practice, Dr. Mary Hannon Revives an Old Tradition and Brings Medical Services to Your Front Door

You stroll home from the market to find your 4-year-old burning up with fever. You quickly dial your local doctor and voilà, she appears on your doorstep—black bag in hand, with the perfect potion to cure your ailing daughter.

Sound like a 1950s dream? This “local doctor” isn’t a relic of the past; we have a doctor on call right here in the South Bay. Mary Hannon, MD, founder of South Bay M.D., collected over 16 years of medical experience in emergency rooms and urgent care centers. Her private practice is bringing back the forgotten business of house doctors.

Born in a small town in Virginia, Dr. Hannon attended college at Notre Dame University and met her future husband, Mike, at freshman orientation. After college the pair attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. In her third year of med school, she began working in the emergency room and fell in love with it.

“One of my biggest strengths is that I’m a great multitasker,” Dr. Hannon says. “I thrive when there are a million different things going on—and that’s what emergency medicine is.”

Throughout her career, Dr. Hannon has always worked in hospitals in underprivileged areas. She believes her levelheaded and relatable nature serves her well in high-stress environments. “When someone goes to the ER, it’s often the worst day of their life, and they’re being treated by this doctor they’ve never met,” she says. “You have to immediately establish trust and rapport with your patients.”

Despite years of school and diplomas, Dr. Hannon considers her family her biggest accomplishment. She had both her boys, Jack and Marty, while she was in medical school and residency. “My #1 goal was to be a mom and have a family,” she says. “It just so happens that I picked a career that doesn’t always make that easy. But you have to be confident in your decisions and what you think is important.”

In 2013, Dr. Hannon and her family moved to the South Bay for her husband’s orthopedics sports medicine fellowship. They were only supposed to be here for a year, but the magic of our community convinced them to stay.

Dr. Hannon worked in ERs right up until 2020, when she decided she needed a change. While she still works at urgent care and enjoys it, she also decided to open her own practice. It had always been a dream, but the inspiration to bring back the old-school house call doctor was inspired by a need she saw in the community.  

“I would constantly get texts from friends about medical questions,” she says. “They knew me, and they knew I would give good advice. So there was a market for it.”

South Bay M.D. is open seven days a week. Dr. Hannon’s service allows you to get in direct contact with her via text or phone call. Appointments are held one of two ways: telehealth or at the patient’s house. Acting like a mobile urgent care, she can give IVs, prescribe medication and even perform procedures like stitches for patients who may be afraid of hospitals or short on time.

Because the South Bay is such a tight-knit community, Dr. Hannon feels she has even better access to her patients. Often she’ll see them at the grocery store or school pickup and can ask if their medicine is working or how they are feeling. She finds herself returning to families, serving everyone—from the 2-month-old infant to the 102-year-old great-grandparent.

“I take care of them like they’re my family,” she says. “I love that relationship piece, which you don’t get in medicine typically.”

She believes the community support of her friends and family has helped get South Bay M.D. off the ground. “I’ve had the most fun. I love this community and getting to know families. It’s such a joy for me! I believe this is the way medicine should be practiced.”