A Focus on Family: A Spotlight on DCMS Member Dr. LaRae Brown

Story by Lana Sumner-Borema, DCMS Intern

Dr. LaRae Brown grew up in Fernandina Beach, just a short drive from where she now practices at UF Health Jacksonville. In fact, you might be surprised to learn she’s Fernandina Beach royalty!

“I was the Shrimp Fest Queen when I was a senior in high school!” Dr. Brown recalls with a proud smile and a friendly giggle.

Growing up in Nassau County, she was always surrounded by a loving family.

“We take large vacations with large amounts of us.”

Some of her favorite memories are from trips to the Caribbean with that large extended family.

“I feel like in a former life I must have some ancestors that were islanders. When we are there I feel at home.”

Loving the full-house environment she grew up in, Dr. Brown now tries to provide the same experience for her own family. She married her “high school sweetheart” and these days they’ve settled back in their hometown with their own five children. Dating since the tenth grade, Brown has found their relationship to be extremely helpful to her medical career.

“It’s very reassuring to go through a demanding, strenuous career with someone who was there from the trenches. They’ve seen the evolution and the dedication.”

Brown and her husband live near her younger brother who is also a physician with four children. As you can probably expect, there is never a dull moment. Between late-night calls to the hospital and the busy lives of her kids, nieces and nephews, her family is always on the go.

But, no matter how busy life may get, Brown knows the true meaning of “family time” and always makes sure to put her family first.

It was her family life growing up, after all, that led her to pursue her career in medicine. Brown explained that both of her parents were scientists who practiced as chemists.

“There’s always been a STEM push in my home,” she recalled of her childhood.

Though she always felt a strong pull toward medicine in particular as a child, Brown recalls a specific moment when she was just five years old that infatuated her with the field of gynecology.

“I was watching an episode of Maternity Ward - don’t ask me why I was watching Maternity Ward at age five - and the episode was filmed at UF Jax and this lady was pregnant with triplets. I was so fascinated by not only the human body, but the capabilities of the human body.”

Brown tried really hard to keep an open mind toward all different fields of medicine as she left University of Miami, and went on to medical school at University of Florida. Brown explains how she tried to convince herself to stay open to all opportunities in medical school.

“[I told myself] okay, let me learn about different specialties, let me learn about anesthesiology and radiology. Some of my mentors even said ‘you should really consider anything, you’re really talented, you can do anything.’”

Ultimately however, Brown’s attempts to vary her interests could not help her draw to gynecology.

“I distinctly remember one day I was on a clinical rotation that was performing a C-section, but I was on the anesthesia rotation. I was on the anesthesiology team watching OBGYN colleagues do the procedure. I kept being intrigued to look over the drape. The attending anesthesiologist finally asked me, “do you want to be on this side, or that side?” That was the moment where I was like “I cannot dedicate my life to anything other than what I feel like I was born to do.”

And gynecology has been the perfect fit from the very beginning. Brown’s utmost appreciation for sharing moments with her loved ones has allowed her to foster the same kind of special, life-enduring moments with her patients and their families at UF Health Jacksonville. She’s always made sure to treat them just like she would her own family.

“With any medical specialty you’re going to get late night phone calls, you’re going to work long hours. Any job you care about has sacrifice, but I would rather enjoy the moments that are considered sacrifice. When I’m on call, I don’t mind getting up in the middle of the night to be there for the delivery of a baby. That’s a life-changing moment. I will never take that for granted and it has fulfilled my passion and desire to continue to be that well-rounded physician that I dreamt about when I was a kid.”

And her time at the office is just a small part of her work day, though she doesn’t really consider it “work.”

“When I come home, that’s when my real job begins.”

As Brown humorously explains the extracurriculars of her children: “They do everything, and all of their activities have to be different. They can’t do the same thing. It would be too simple for me to just drop everyone off at soccer practice. No, no, no.”

Her children range from ages six to seventeen and she considers it essential that they excel in their extracurriculars, whether it’s band for her seventeen-year-old son, basketball for her fourteen-year-old daughter, football for her eleven-year-old, historical trivia and reading for her eight-year-old son, or dancing for her six-year-old girl.

As Dr. Brown puts it, her mission with her children is to help develop “well-rounded kids who are going to be grateful, smart, and contribute to society.” She then emphasizes “That is what I will be remembered for.”

While Dr. Brown feels extremely blessed to have become the doctor she dreamed about as a young child, she never forgets her roots. Quality time with family and trips to the Caribbean, and most importantly having parents who made sure she was equipped with every resource necessary to accomplish her goals as a medical professional; this is what she wants to give to her kids. The ability to foster life into the world as a physician, while simultaneously helping her own children become members of their community is the incredible life-giving work of Dr. Brown, the Shrimp Fest Queen of Fernandina Beach.