Alpert Medical School - Notable Faculty, Alumni, and Students

Notable Faculty, Alumni, and Students

• Seth Berkley, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, Brown alum (B.A. 1977, M.D. 1981), leading medical epidemiologist, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, founder and former President and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" (2009).
• Peter D. Kramer, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, best-selling author (Listening to Prozac), and radio host (The Infinite Mind).
• Edward Beiser, legal scholar and medical ethicist who served as Associate Dean of Biomedical Ethics at Brown Medical School.
• Sandra Carson, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and principal innovator of the first artificial human ovary. TIME Magazine recognized Dr. Carson's feat as one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs in 2010.
• Scott Haltzman, Brown Medical School alum (M.D., 1985), Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, best-selling author (The Secrets of Happily Married Men), and relationship counselor.
• David Berson, Professor of Medical Science and pioneer in investigation of mammalian photoreceptors.
• John Buster, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and pioneering researcher of embryo transfer.
• Judith A. Boss, former Assistant Director of Curriculum Affairs, scholar, and best-selling author.
• David F. Duncan, Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health, former consultant to President Clinton's White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and renowned contributor to the field of drug abuse.
• Henry David Abraham, former Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and co-recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
• Jonathan Doris, resident in internal medicine at Brown Medical School whose experiences inspired the popular television series Scrubs. He served as medical advisor to the program and made a cameo appearance on the season eight finale ("My Finale") as the "real J.D.," bidding "adios" to the show's central character J.D.
• Mary Carskadon, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and national expert on sleep and circadian rhythms during childhood and adolescence.
• Andy Robin, student at Brown Medical School and award-winning film and television writer, director, and producer. His writing credits include Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, and The Fatigues, which garnered the 1998 Writers Guild Award.
• David A. Savitz, Professor of Community Health and Obstetrics and Gynecology and renowned expert on reproductive and environmental epidemiology.
• Atul Butte, Brown alum (B.A. 1991, M.D. 1995), leading researcher in biomedical informatics, and biotechnology entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.
• Naida Cole, student at Brown Medical School and acclaimed concert pianist and recording artist.
• Lynn Pasquerella, former Professor of Medical Ethics and 18th president of Mount Holyoke College.
• Usher Parsons, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the early 19th century, one of the organizers of the American Medical Association, a founder of Rhode Island Hospital, president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, and author of Sailor’s Physician, a widely used sea medicine manual.
• Elisha Bartlett, alum of Brown Medical School (M.D. 1826), professor, and poet who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as the first Mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts. Dr. William Osler lauded him as "Brown’s most eminent medical graduate."
• Solomon Drowne, Professor of Materia Medica and Botany and a prominent physician during the American Revolution. He was awarded the first medical degree from Brown University, an honorary doctor of medicine in 1804.
• Griffin Rodgers, Brown alum (B.Sc. 1976, M.S. & M.D. 1979) and renowned hematologist whose research paved the way for the first effective treatment of sickle cell anemia. He currently serves as the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• Christine Montross, alum of Brown Medical School (M.D. 2006), Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Co-director of the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Scholarly Concentration. Her memoir about her experience in the anatomy lab at Brown, Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab, was a Washington Post Best Nonfiction Book of the Year and a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.
• Peter A. Stewart, former Professor of Medical Science who developed a quantitative physicochemical approach to understanding acid-base physiology in his influential and controversial work, How to Understand Acid-Base.
• Arthur L. Horwich, Brown alum (B.A. 1972, M.D. 1975) who discovered the role of chaperonins in protein folding.
• Patrick Aebischer, former chair of the graduate program in biotechnology and currently president of the prestigious École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.
• Sally Satel, Brown alum (M.D. 1984), psychiatrist, and prolific author who examines political trends in medicine.
• Peter Calabresi, Brown alum (M.D. 1988), Director of the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis Center, and pioneer in the investigation of neurodegenerative mechanisms and neuroprotective therapies for MS.
• Peter Kilmarx, Brown alum (M.D. 1990), current Director of CDC/Zimbabwe, and former Chief of Epidemiology for the Division of HIV/AIDS prevention at the CDC.
• Kenneth J. Chang, Brown alum (B.S. 1981, M.D. 1985) and pioneer of endoscopic ultrasound in the treatment of cancer.
• Arthur Landy, Professor of Medical Science, National Academy of Science member, and major investigator of the molecular mechanisms underpinning DNA recombination.
• Mark Blumenkranz Brown alum (B.A. 1972, M.D. 1975, M.M.Sc. 1976) and ophthalmic innovator instrumental in the development of the Pascal Photocoagulator and the Ozurdex implant.
• Sandra N. Lehrman, Brown alum (B.A. 1969, M.D. 1976) and Global Director of Scientific Affairs at Merck whose research paved the way for the first breakthrough in the treatment of HIV/AIDS infection, AZT.
• Stephen Cannistra, Brown alum (M.D. 1976) and editor-in-chief of the internationally renowned Journal of Clinical Oncology.
• Valerie Parisi, Brown alum (Sc.B. 1972, M.D. 1975) and Dean of Wayne State University School of Medicine.
• Kerry Kelley, Brown alum (M.D. 1977) and Chief Medical Officer of the New York City Fire Department.
• Barrett Bready, Brown alum (B.A. 1999, M.D. 2003) and President and CEO of NabSys, a DNA-sequencing startup which employs technology developed at Brown.
• Bobby Jindal, Brown alum (B.A. 1991), current and 55th Governor of Louisiana, and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was one of 50 students nationwide to be accepted to the Program in Liberal Medical Education at Brown University, but forfeited his spot in the medical school to pursue studies in health policy at Oxford University through the Rhodes Scholarship.
• Eli Y. Adashi, Professor of Medical Science, Immediate Past Dean of Brown Medical School, Franklin Fellow, Senior Advisor on Global Women's Health to the Office of Global Women's Issues of the U.S. Department of State, and contributor to the Huffington Post.
• Lloyd B. Minor, Brown alum (B.Sc. 1979, M.D. 1982) and newly appointed Dean of Stanford University School of Medicine. He previously served as the 13th Provost of Johns Hopkins University and is noted for discovering superior canal dehiscence syndrome and refining a treatment for Ménière’s disease using gentamicin.