David J. Brown, MD ’97 (Class of 1996)
My interest in serving on the Harvard Medical School Alumni Council stems from my lived experiences, my time at HMS, and my professional career.
Growing up in poverty in a city that lacked the resources and infrastructure for healthy living, I have personal experience with negative social determinants of health, and thus, I am committed to health care equity for all. Being the first in my family to attend college, I know that becoming a physician would not have been possible without strong mentorship. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Gerald Healy, former Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Boston Children’s Hospital, who was not only my mentor during medical school and fellowship but also my sponsor. Not only did he shed light on the hidden curriculum, but he continuously advocated for my advancement behind closed doors. I would not have the career I have now without his ongoing sponsorship, and I hope this type of relationship is something we can cultivate for many of the learners at HMS.
When my classmate Alicia Barba, MD, and I were students at HMS, we felt there was a narrow set of career options that were considered acceptable by Harvard, i.e., academic medicine, chair and dean jobs, leading a section of the NIH or CDC, etc. Eleven years ago, we started Alumni Mentoring Opportunities, Resilience, and Excellence (AMORE) to not only provide connectivity between underrepresented alumni and learners but also to expose them to a plethora of career options.
As a student at HMS with marginalized identities, I did not always feel I belonged. In my current administrative role, I am keenly aware of how a lack of a sense of belonging impacts performance, psychological safety, confidence, and even patient outcomes. I would love for HMS to be a place where all feel they belong and can thrive.
David J. Brown, MD ’97 (Class of 1996), is the associate vice president, associate dean for health equity and inclusion, and professor of pediatric otolaryngology at Michigan Medicine.
Brown leads the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion at Michigan Medicine, which implements the University of Michigan’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan as well as the health equity roadmap. He is an executive sponsor for the Michigan Medicine BASE Belonging Strategy and the past executive sponsor of the Michigan Medicine Anti-Racism Oversight Committee. In 2018, he led the team that designed and then implemented a health disparities curriculum for house officers, resulting in the Health Equity and Quality Scholars Program. In 2020, Dr. Brown co-founded The Black Otolaryngologist Network to promote Black excellence and advancement in otolaryngology through mentorship, sponsorship, community building, and advocacy. In 2021, he founded the Youth Summit at the Big House, a hands-on simulation day to expose hundreds of fourth through 12th graders to health care careers. He sponsors the Michigan Medicine Summer Science Institute Pathways Program for high school and college students and has an over 90% medical school acceptance rate. Through intentional recruitment programs and efforts, he has helped Michigan Medicine increase the percentage of underrepresented house officers by over 300% over the last decade.
He is a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Diversity and Inclusion (GDI) and was the central region representative for the AAMC GDI from 2017 to 2019. Brown was the chair of the Society of University Otolaryngologists (SUO) Diversity Committee from 2019 to 2021 and is now the president of SUO. He serves on the Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School Advisory Council on Biology and Medicine and the American Medical Association Foundation’s Commission on LGBTQ Health.
Brown graduated from Brown University and Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Michigan (U-M) and a fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Prior to returning to Michigan, he was on the faculty at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was the otolaryngology residency associate program director and winner of the 2005 George T. Nager Award for Excellence in Teaching.
He was recently honored with the Harvard Medical School 2020 Distinguished Alumni Service Award for co-creating Alumni Mentoring Opportunities, Resilience, and Excellence (AMORE), a mentorship program for Harvard medical students underrepresented in medicine.
Brown is an executive coach and loves helping faculty, staff, and learners achieve their fullest potential. He enjoys classical music and is a founding member, former principal flutist, and concerto competition winner of the (U-M) Life Sciences Orchestra. He is a U-M Medical School representative for the U-M Arts Initiative Advisory Committee.