Dr. Kenneth Brown passed away on March 20, 2023. He left a successful adult and paediatric tumour practice in Montreal to join the group at BC Children’s Hospital in the early 1990s, becoming a Clinical Lecturer in 1993. He became a UBC Orthopaedics Clinical Professor in 2003, and when he retired in 2014, he was awarded the title of Clinical Professor Emeritus.
Dr. Brown was an American-British-Canadian Travelling Fellow in 1991. Throughout his career he maintained close relationships with international organizations. He was a key contributor throughout his career to the Children’s Oncology Group, making major contributions to many of the surgical protocols along with his friend and colleague Dr. Lor Randall. He was also an active and contributing member of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society.
Throughout his professional career, he made significant contributions to our understanding of limb reconstruction in children. His description of a rotationplasty that brings the knee to the hip was revolutionary when published in the late 1990s, and that procedure is now referred to routinely as the “Brown” rotationplasty, although he never used that term. He continued to work on new approaches to tumour surgery right up until his retirement.
Dr. Brown was known for showing his patients kindness, ensuring that they always felt cared for and listened to. He was one of the most accomplished surgeons in our UBC Orthopaedics community. He made major contributions locally and internationally to the practice of tumour surgery and limb reconstruction, and was an important influence on the development of his trainees.
A note from UBC Orthopaedics Clinical Professor, Dr. Paul Clarkson:
“I came to Vancouver specifically to work with Ken in 2004, and I spent 2 years as his fellow. I was expecting to learn a few things about tumours and then go back to Perth, Australia. I found so much more. I had done a year’s fellowship in tumour in Toronto, but it soon became clear that I only had the basic principles. Ken was thinking much deeper and working on a completely higher plane that I didn’t understand yet. I was still very much the apprentice to his master. Ken Brown was one of the most accomplished surgeons I have ever met, and we have had the good fortune to have him in our community at UBC. He was the most important influence on my development as a tumour surgeon and I owe him a huge debt. He was my friend and mentor. I miss him already.” – Dr. Paul Clarkson, UBC Orthopaedics Clinical Professor
Read more about Dr. Brown’s life.
