Dr. Andrew Brown - Just a normal guy

Dr. Andrew Brown – Just a normal guy

23 September 2011 One Comment

Dr. Andrew Brown

By Krysta Celestine

A young black patient once walked up to Andrew Brown. “You’re a doctor?,” she asked in amazement. It’s a question that Dr. Andrew Brown hopes that young black children will not have to ask again. “There is more to the black experience than basketball and athletes,” says the 27-year-old Toronto-born physician. “Don’t be confined by what you see on TV.”

Ironically, Dr. Brown wanted to be an athlete himself. “I ate, breathed and slept baseball, ”he says. Sadly, a shoulder injury in his final year of high school dashed his dreams. It was his personal physician who helped him to realize that maybe he wasn’t supposed to play baseball after all. His doctor’s ability to encourage him to think outside the box inspired him to pursue a career in the medical field.

The transformation from promising baseball star to physician, of course, was no easy feat. It required a lot of work, and a lot of studying, says Brown. He credits his parents, whom he calls “advocates of education” for helping him to realize the importance of education. “My parents never went to high school, ” Brown says, “so education was very important to them.”

Brown proudly paid his way through undergrad and medical school through scholarships and bursaries, and he encourages other youth to do the same. Brown, who is currently penning “Cake”— a book about pursuing financial aid believes that “if you’re savvy and seek out these opportunities, you can certainly find the money to pay for University”.

Dr. Brown is not just a doctor. The lecturer, author and workshop facilitator has so many awards under his belt—among them the Medical Student Achievement Award (2010), Canadian Who’s Who (2008), Harry Jerome Award (2007), and Young Citizen of the Year (2006) award—that it’s hard to imagine that he’d be able to do anything else. But the sky’s the limit for Brown. He also serves as Director of Representation for Altitude, a Healthcare Mentoring program, created by the Ontario Medical Students Association which aims to empower underrepresented students to pursue a career in healthcare.

The program pairs students with mentors in the health care field and helps them realize their full potential. Growing up underprivileged himself—“we didn’t have much money,” the child of working class Jamaican immigrants believes in giving back to the community and over the course of the academic year, he will be recruiting students for the next program.

According to Brown, low income and black and aboriginal students especially, are significantly underrepresented in the medical field. In other words, most medical students come from wealthy homes. As Director of Representation, his mission is to change that by promoting the interest of all medical students. “It’s important that the medical profession reflects our society, ” Brown notes.

With this hectic lifestyle, one has to ask: how on earth does he manage? “Balance is important,” Brown says. Describing a typical day, Brown says that he wakes up, goes to the gym, and after he sees patients on the floor and in the emergency room, he unwinds by spending time with his fiancé, friends and family. Oh… and plays X-box with his little brother. “People think I’m different from other people, but for the most part, I’m just a normal guy. I really don’t think I’m different from anyone else”.

Sure. A “normal guy” who just happens to be a doctor…a lecturer…an author…and a director.

For more information on Dr. Andrew Brown, visit www.andrewbrown.ca or email: [email protected]. More information on Altitude can be found at: www.altitudementoring.ca/