A promising young gymnast turns injury into opportunity

When Candida (Candy) Brown, MD, pediatric neurologist at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland consults with a family with a newly diagnosed child, she often shares the Welcome to Holland story.

“It’s about how you were planning this trip to Italy,” she recalled, “and all of a sudden your plane gets diverted and you end up in Holland. You are really disappointed because here you were really looking forward to Italy, and you can’t get back there now and you are stuck in Holland. And the moral of the story is, and it’s a beautiful essay, is if you worry about missing Italy you won’t enjoy being in Holland.”

“And Holland is beautiful,” she added. “It has windmills and tulips. It’s just not Italy.”
Dr. Brown has been to Italy in her life, and to Holland, and the journeys have given her a deep well of empathy that defines her as a neurologist and physician.

Falling and getting back up
Born to a blue collar Chicago family, one of seven kids, Dr. Brown learned early on that hard work was the only option.

At 10, she took up gymnastics, and through hard work, talent and determination, she was on the national gymnastics scene at 13. She would eventually be the Midwest Open Champion and rank 11th in the nation, headed toward the Olympic trials. But a bad dismount off the balance beam blew out her knee and it was never quite as stable again.

Welcome to Holland
The injury exposed her to physical therapy, and a new career direction opened up: She attended the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and earned a BS in Occupational Therapy. Dr. Brown then worked professionally as an occupational therapist (OT) in a Texas hospital for a year. A pediatric neurologist on staff there, Robert Zion, MD, inspired her to become a pediatric neurologist.

“I saw that I could do more to help kids,” she recalled. “I wanted to have more impact on their lives. OT is an extraordinarily important piece of the puzzle, but I wanted to be the conductor, the one to get all of kids’ needs met, not just the OT ones.”

Dr. Brown took an OT job with a Texas school district so she could have more time to go to school. She schooled at night, weekends and summers—that hard work ethic—and earned her pre-med credits.

The hard work paid off: She was accepted at all seven med schools to which she applied. She chose Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, where she graduated at the top of her class.

Heading West
From there, Dr. Brown headed west, to the University of California, San Francisco, for her pediatric residency and neurology fellowship.

Dr. Brown first sought employment at Children’s Hospital Oakland, but a hiring freeze at the time closed that door. Instead, she joined Kaiser Permanente, and served as a pediatric neurologist for 10 years.

Over time, she grew “disillusioned with our broken healthcare system,” she said. She felt she wasn’t getting to practice medicine the way she believed it should be practiced.

She left Kaiser and considered leaving medicine entirely, but an interview with William Byrne, MD, then medical director of Children’s Neurology department, brought her to Children’s.

Everything shifts
“When I came here I was so inspired by the most incredible devotion I have ever seen in physicians. It renewed my passion for all the reasons I went into medicine in first place. The doctors here are absolutely amazing doctors. They are practicing medicine for all the right reasons. I feel like it’s the best decision I ever made. I’m happy and proud to be here, thanks to my colleagues and the work they do.”

At Children’s, Dr. Brown helped establish the Jack & Julia Center for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a rare genetic disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain and on other vital organs, and leads to epilepsy, among many other symptoms. TSC requires comprehensive care from a number of disciplines, including neurology. With Dr. Brown’s dedication, the J & J clinic has developed a stellar reputation and follows more than 140 TSC patients.

With Children’s about to establish a Neurosciences center, combining Neurology and Neurosurgery services for treating epilepsy with surgical resection, Dr. Brown is excited that Children’s is on the way to becoming a national center for treating epilepsy and TSC.

Another cause close to Dr. Brown’s heart is philanthropy. Working closely with Children’s foundation, she helped establish the Teens for Kids program, a service group that teaches teenagers the value of philanthropy, and helps raise money for Children’s Hospital.

Even closer to her heart is husband Peter, a math PhD, and three daughters headed to, or already in, college.

It’s a full life, and a balancing act she still approaches with the passion and grace of a young gymnast.