Buck Brown, MD, turned down two MLB offers to pursue medical career

Clarence H. “Buck” Brown III, MD, was president of the student body at Boone High School and captain of his baseball team. In fact, two Major League Baseball teams offered him contracts to play the sport professionally, but he turned them down to pursue the field of medicine.

“The Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Athletics, now the Oakland A’s, wanted to recruit me as a catcher when I was a senior in high school,” said Brown, president and CEO of MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando. He added, with a chuckle: “I’m paying the price with my ankles and knees being a little less flexible than they were in those days so it’s a good thing I chose medicine.”

Born in Fort Lauderdale, Brown grew up in Orlando, where his father, Clarence Jr., worked in commercial real estate, and his mother, Ruth, owned a plant nursery and rental business. The second of four children – he has an older sister and two younger brothers – Brown recalls a typical small town upbringing, reflected by his first paying job: flipping burgers at the inaugural Royal Castle in Orlando.

“My uncle – my father’s youngest brother – was a West Point cadet whom I wanted to emulate,” recalled Brown. However, “he convinced me that I should become a doctor and so I planned my career path in the eighth grade.”

At Emory University in Atlanta, where he graduated with a chemistry degree in 1962 and a medical degree, summa cum laude, in 1966, Brown was president of the Sigma Chi fraternity and chaired the Honor Council. (Sigma Chi named him a Significant Sig in 2010.)

“I chose internal medicine/hematology/oncology under the influence of professors in medical school and mentors during residency,” said Brown, who trained in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., completed a fellowship in hematology at Johns Hopkins and served as a clinical associate in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md. “I was so excited to be selected to serve a military obligation at the NCI. It was a true plum job desired by all.”

In 1972, Brown joined the faculty of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he was a Howard Hughes Research Fellow and worked alongside world renowned heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, MD, on the development of the artificial heart.

“He was very active even then in his seventies,” recalled Brown, “and worked until he passed away at 99. I got to know him pretty well, and it was sad to tell him I was leaving his faculty to come to Orlando. He was a wonderful man.”

In 1975, Brown returned to Central Florida to practice hematology and medical oncology, where he also made his mark on volunteerism. He was medical director of the Hemophilia Association of Orlando and the Hospice of Central Florida, and served as the 1988 president of the Orange County Medical Society. He also served on numerous boards in Orlando, including chairing the Orlando Health Foundation Board of Directors. Statewide, he served on the Florida Division Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society (ACS) and as a delegate to the National Assembly of the ACS.

In the early 2000s, Brown chaired the state’s Cancer Research and Advisory Council, appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. From 1996 to 2011, he was named one of the “Best Doctors in America” and in 1998, he was named to Central Florida’s 25 most influential leaders in healthcare. Orlando Magazine named him one of the “Best Doctors in Orlando” and Orlando Business Journal listed him among “Who’s Who in Health Care.” In 2002, he was inducted into the William R. Boone High School (Orlando) Athletic Hall of Fame.

Brown was the founding medical director of MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando, the first outreach affiliate of the renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston that started in 1991. In 1997, he became the cancer center’s president and CEO. Concurrently, he is an adjunct professor in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and a professor of medicine at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine.

In his spare time, Brown enjoys a good round of golf, and particularly spending time with his wife of 48 years, Ann, their three grown highly-educated and successful daughters, and their five grandchildren, ranging in age from 6 to 12. On his Bucket List: traveling to South Africa and cruising around Cape Horn; golfing in Ireland and Scotland; cruising to Alaska; touring China; and spending every holiday with his extended brood.  

“I’m looking forward to spending more time with my grandchildren,” said Brown. “The four boys and (tomboy) girl are very young, full of energy and hard to keep up with these days!”

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