Dr. Ian Brown Niagara’s new chief of surgery
Physician replaces Dr. Jeff Cranford next month
He’s been there from the very beginning.
Dr. Ian Brown, recently named Niagara Health’s newest chief of surgery, first opened his practice in Niagara Falls in 1996, just as Niagara Health System started to evolve.
Most of his career was spent as a physician when he directly saw and treated patients. In fact, this is what first inspired Brown to go into medicine.
“My original inspirations around medicine were very much focused on patient care and doing the job of being a doctor.”
He said his interest in how the health care system works evolved over time.
From 2006-13, Brown was Niagara Health’s urology lead. In 2014, he was the physician lead of Niagara Health’s Prostate Diagnostic Assessment Clinic where he developed a program, a budget and a staff — a change from his work in “bedtime medicine.”
“You start to realize that your program is actually a small part of a much bigger process,” Brown said.
After a taste in “behind the scenes” work, Brown decided to push for the position as chief of surgery. He said he’s excited for the challenge of working in administration after spending most of his career as a full-time physician.
“This will now essentially define half of my week’s worth in a role and supporting the services from an administrative side, rather than a clinical side,” he said. “It will be different to take it from (working) with one patient at a time to changes that affect the whole system … it changes the nature of the things you do and the differences you make.”
He said his first step in the new role will be to familiarize himself with programs that are up and running.
“We don’t want to mess up all the good work that’s already been done by Dr. Cranford and his team, ahead of my taking on the role,” Brown said.
Brown stressed he’s excited to build on the work current chief Dr. Jeff Cranford has done over the past eight years.
“I think there’s a lot of really exciting changes that have occurred and are occurring on a longer basis so I think it’s a very exciting time to be involved,” he said, referring to the new hospital in St. Catharines and the planned new site for Niagara Falls.
Brown will officially take over as chief of staff on Sept. 1.