John Moro, owner of The Herbal Path (Courtesy of The Herbal Path)
John Moro’s path to herbal medicine was not one he imagined for himself. A 2014 graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, he expected to follow a traditional career in pharmacy. “By chance I signed up for an herbal medicine rotation with the college because it sounded interesting,” he says.
Moro began shadowing pharmacist Greg McCrone at The Herbal Path, a community-centered pharmacy with locations in Dover and Portsmouth, specializing in natural remedies and alternatives to prescription drugs. He recalls McCrone’s flannel shirt that first day and being taken into a field to sit with the plants. “He was as far away from what my standard interpretation of a pharmacist was,” Moro says of the man he calls his mentor. “I had just come off a hospital rotation, and here was this totally different way of looking at medicine. It was a magical, immersive experience.”
After graduation, McCrone advised Moro to first experience what was “broken” in conventional medicine before entering herbal practice. What he found missing was human connection. “In any type of medical practice, you often feel like a number. People come to us because they often aren’t getting the support they need,” Moro explains.
Moro says customers often walk into The Herbal Path, founded in 1997, looking for something conventional medicine has failed to provide: time, connection, and a more holistic approach to health.
Moro, who joined the company in 2021 and later became owner, carries that tradition forward while expanding on its mission of education, access, and personal care. He emphasizes that herbs aren’t meant to be direct replacements for pharmaceuticals. Instead, they support the body’s natural mechanisms and homeostasis or balance. “A pharmaceutical targets a specific pathway in the body. With herbs, we’re working with the body’s internal balance to enhance its natural functions,” he says.
Its flagship store in Dover houses a wide selection of herbal products and supplements, with a small medicinal garden behind the shop. Moro says the two stores employ about 25 people with a 5% annual growth rate in recent years.
Moro sees his role not just as a pharmacist but as a guide. “We can’t diagnose, cure, or treat all diseases, but we can educate,” he says. For more information, visit herbalpath.com.
