Aaron McGuffin is a poet by birth and a pediatrician and medical educator by training. He works at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg, which he now calls home. His work explores the intersections of medicine, family, memory, faith, and the natural world through both formal and free verse.

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He is the author of Common Illness: Poems Inspired by a Love of Medicine (Wentworth & Collins, 2013). His poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from Appalachian Journal, As the Crow Flies, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, Pharos, Literary Hatchet, JAMA: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Aenigma Medicorum, Laurel Review, and ContiguousLyt.

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Aaron serves on the editorial board of Pharos as a poetry reviewer and is the founder and director of the annual West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine Poetry Competition, which celebrates creative writing by medical students.

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He is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at West Virginia Wesleyan University, where he studies with Doug Van Gundy, Devon McNamara, Marianne Worthington, Sara Henning, and Willie Carver.

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Outside of writing and medicine, Aaron enjoys running, Scrabble, Chess, and spending time with his wife, Eden, and their four children and son-in-law. He believes that poetry and medicine share a common purpose: paying close attention to what it means to be human.