The Doctor Who Almost Became a Journalist Instead

Who is Colin Brown?

Very few people find themselves awake at 5 a.m., reading the findings of tests performed in the lab that day. But that's Brown's lifestyle. After any required coffee, he jumps straight onto his computer, examining pathology reports and messages from patients, things he likes to handle before the work day officially begins. While most people are on their way to the office, he's been devoting an hour-and-a-half to unseen work.

Brown had not originally planned to follow this path. He had gone to Duke University for the intention of getting into journalism; he was inspired by the daily newspaper and the strength of Duke's English department. However, he soon realized that his talents were better suited elsewhere; he realized that he was better at identifying solutions to problems people faced while interacting directly with them rather than writing about those situations afterwards. One specific interview where a source asked that he not use any of his lines of questioning to write about them was the beginning of his change in career pursuits.

So Brown set off on a path of discovery. A few years on Wall Street revealed some things that didn't seem quite right to him. Next he was at Columbia University in the evenings, taking premed classes to prep for med school, four evenings a week following a full day of work.

Looking back, he considers that to be one of the most energetic, exciting times of his life.

He later earned his degree in medicine and found his own true career.

Showing Up Fully, Every Time

He asks what it really takes to run a practice, pointing out that "it's not just medical knowledge. It's social skills" that are necessary, and that running a team requires emotional intelligence, which is not a trait learned from books, and the same one that Brown has been developing alongside his clinical expertise.

That same amount of care is apparent in how Brown treats his patients. Despite having limited time for appointments, Brown always makes sure that the person in front of him is treated well. He would rather spend longer doing this than try to rush through the interaction. This is Brown's mantra: to understand the problem and to keep working with people until the real answer is found and even if it takes a while.

"My role is to identify the problem and develop a solution. There are many ways to do this, and in my experience, people are not always aware of the level of effort and concentration needed for this. I'll keep trying until we are successful."

Q: Growing up, did you plan to work in this occupation?

A: "No. I went to college thinking I was going to be a journalist. After my first year, I realized my brain worked differently, I couldn't consume that much literature that fast. And I remember interviewing somebody, and afterward he asked me not to use any of it, he didn't want to be identified. That stuck with me. I wanted work where I was actually helping the person in front of me."

Q: What's a task that takes up a lot of your time behind the scenes?

A: "Documentation, ordering, billing, the logistics of it. It's part of making sure patients get taken care of properly, even if it's not the part people see."

Q: What do you want people to understand about your job that they usually get wrong?

A: "There's a lot of variability in solutions and problems. Some things are easy to diagnose and treat. Some take more time. I think people sometimes expect it to be automated across the board, but every patient deserves the time it takes to get it right."