Since the day she began her career in medicine almost 19 years ago, Kelly A. Brown, MD, has always found immense joy working in graduate medical education.
That passion led her to become program director for the Pediatrics residency program at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) in 2016 and it continues to fuel her now as she prepares to become the medical school’s next associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and Designated Institutional Official (DIO).
Dr. Brown will officially begin her new role on March 1. She succeeds David T. Overton, MD, who is stepping down from the position, which he has held since 2015.
“This is a great opportunity to step into a new leadership role here at WMed,” Dr. Brown said. “I’ve been fortunate to experience and to a play a role in many successes in the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine and to have the opportunity to strengthen our residency program. This new role is an extension of that and an opportunity to grow and support all of GME at the medical school.”
A Kalamazoo native, Dr. Brown graduated from Western Michigan University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences in 2000. She earned her MD degree from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in 2006. During her time at MSU, Dr. Brown completed her clerkship rotations at the MSU Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (MSU/KCMS), the predecessor to WMed.
Following medical school, Dr. Brown completed her residency training in Pediatrics at the University of Virginia followed by an academic general pediatrics fellowship at the University of Rochester in New York.
Dr. Brown has served as the Pediatrics residency program director at WMed since coming back to Kalamazoo in 2016. Since 2020, she has also served as division chief for the medical school’s Division of General Pediatrics and associate professor in the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. In addition to her roles in academic medicine, Dr. Brown is board certified in general pediatrics and remains active in direct patient care at the Pediatrics clinic at the medical school’s Oakland Drive Campus.
Dr. Brown is a member of several national academic and professional organizations, including the Academic Pediatrics Association (APA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (AAPD).
Dr. Brown will continue in her role as residency program director through the end of February 2025 before handing leadership responsibilities over to Erica VanderKooy, MD, who has served as associate program director since 2017.
As she looks ahead and prepares to step into her new role as associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and DIO, Dr. Brown said she wants to focus on strengthening relationships between WMed and its vital community partners to work diligently toward the goal of health equity for all in Southwest Michigan. She said she will also continue to be a strong advocate for WMed students, residents, and faculty, as well as families and patients.
“Initially, my goal is to reach out to all of our departments, residency programs, and our community partners as a way to strengthen relationships and understand current community and institutional needs, and how we can better work together in alignment with our vision of health equity for all in the region,” Dr. Brown said. “Southwest Michigan has a longstanding history of supporting graduate medical education for more than 70 years and I think our mission at WMed really aligns with our community partners.’ I look forward to continuing that tradition.”