Carol Brown, MD
Gynecologic cancer surgeon Carol Brown, MD, is featured today in Crain’s New York Business’ Notable Black Leaders and Executives list. The list recognizes Black men and women who have impacted New York City in major ways and celebrates their professional, civic, and philanthropic achievements in a special section published on February 15.
For more than two decades, Dr. Brown has used her surgical expertise to provide high-quality and compassionate care to women with ovarian, uterine, cervical, and vulvar cancer at MSK. In addition to treating women with cancer, Dr. Brown has focused her career on the reduction and elimination of cancer health disparities experienced by medically underserved populations, including implementing programs to increase access to clinical trials in those communities.
She was recently named the inaugural incumbent of the Nicholls-Biondi Chair for Health Equity, a permanently endowed chair dedicated to improving outcomes for patients from medically underserved communities and building a base of knowledge to facilitate health equity for people with cancer worldwide. An endowed chair represents one of the highest honors Memorial Sloan Kettering bestows on its most talented faculty, and the Nicholls-Biondi Chair in particular reflects MSK’s commitment to expanding patient access to cancer care and supporting ongoing research aimed at reducing cancer disparities that stem from racial, ethnic, cultural, or socioeconomic barriers.
Serving as MSK’s first Chief Health Equity Officer, Dr. Brown plays a critical role in helping MSK build a diverse and equitable clinical, educational, and research enterprise by helping to recruit, train, and provide opportunities to research and medical trainees from underrepresented groups. In her time at MSK, she has established career development programs for high school, undergraduate, and graduate medical students in which hundreds of underrepresented minority students have participated.
Dr. Brown was the first Black woman to serve as the President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology and is a member of its Diversity & Inclusion Committee, has served as co-chair of the NRG Oncology Health Disparities Committee, and was a member of the Biden Cancer Initiative Board of Directors. In 2017, she was awarded the AACR-Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Memorial Lectureship, which recognizes an outstanding scientist who has made meritorious contributions to the field of cancer research and furthered the advancement of minority investigators.
