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Calvin R. Brown Jr., MD, Goes the Distance
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Whether he is calorie loading for an endurance bicycle race, or savoring fine cuisine while traveling in northern Italy, Calvin R. Brown Jr., MD, enjoys being on the move.
However, that drive has not prevented him from laying down roots and passing on his wealth of experience and knowledge to the next generation of rheumatologists. As director of the rheumatology training program at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, as well as a member of the Healio Rheumatology editorial board, Brown prides himself on the multitudes of fellows he has trained and mentored throughout the years.
Brown recently sat with Healio Rheumatology to discuss his extensive performance bicycle collection, his biggest professional challenges, and what piece of art every physician needs to see.
Q: What do you enjoy doing when you’re not practicing medicine?
Brown: Of course, hanging out with friends and family and participating in all kinds of endurance sports and adventure racing.
Q: If you hadn’t gone into rheumatology, what would you have done?
Brown: I thought I wanted to be an architect, but when I saw how hard my college roommate, who was majoring in architecture, worked (several ‘all-nighters’ building model buildings and bridges), I thought it would be too hard.
Q: Whom do you consider a mentor?
Brown: Typically, a mentor is a more senior person, but most of my mentors were experienced, trusted advisors directing other rheumatology fellowship programs across the country.
Q: What has been your biggest professional challenge?
Brown: Increased regulation and compliance requirements for both clinical practice and fellowship programs have been the most frustrating and demoralizing challenges.
Q: What would you consider one of your biggest successes in your specialty?
Brown: Having helped train, by my count, more than 70 rheumatology fellows in my career.
Q: What do you think will have the biggest influence on rheumatology in the next 10 years?
Brown: Demonstrating and proving the substantial value we as rheumatologists bring to patients and stakeholders.
Q: Are you a collector?
Brown: I have at least one of every kind of performance bicycle — road, climbing, mountain, cyclocross and gravel — because, of course, you need each of these.
Q: What kind of diet and exercise regimen do you have?
Brown: Endurance sports burn lots of calories, and my biggest was the LoToJa Classic race from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, a distance of more than 200 miles, in a single day. I consumed 10,000 calories that day — a lot of M&Ms, which are the most calorie dense food there is.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant?
Brown: Any one in northern Italy, where even the gas-station pizza is hand crafted and exceptional.
Q: What is the last book you read/art collection you saw/CD you bought? Why, and what did you think of it?
Brown: The Smithsonian National Gallery of Art exhibition of Damien Hurst’s “The Last Supper.” The 13 prints pose the question of whether pharmaceuticals — a staple of many contemporary diets — may have become not only the salvation in which we put our faith, but our daily bread. Everyone in medicine should see them.
Q: What is your favorite travel destination?
Brown: Our family cottage on a lake in northern Michigan, where I can run, swim, cycle and kayak right off my back porch, and then hang out with family.
For more information:
Calvin R. Brown Jr., MD, can be reached at 240 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; email: c-brownjr@northwestern.edu.
Disclosure: Brown reports consulting and related activities for Abbvie, Celgene Corporation, Genentech, Pfizer, SCS Healthcare Marketing Inc., Sudler & Hennessey (Y&R, Inc.); received compensation for medical record consultation and/or expert witness testimony.