Medical practitioner was Concordia University Science College first graduate
March 18, 2020
Set to return to work after the birth of her first child, Gloria Brown - who died almost two years ago - was in a bind when the babysitter she lined up cancelled at the last minute.
Without family members to fill the breach in Montreal where she resided with her husband, Cyril Brown, six-week-old Anita Brown-Johnson was entrusted into the care of her paternal grandmother in Jamaica, where she spent the next 16 years, graduating with honours from Excelsior High School before rejoining her parents in Canada in 1978 to pursue higher education.
Her paternal grandmother passed away two months before she matriculated.
After finishing the two-year pre-university Health Sciences program at Dawson College, Brown-Johnson was among Concordia University Science College's first cohort. The only Black female student in the small class of 12 made history in 1983 as the first graduate, completing the three-year program ahead of her classmates. (A male Black student didn’t complete the program).
Founded in 1979 when the university was encouraging the creation of miniature academic units, the Science College is a unique space for students to prepare for research, teaching or any challenging pursuit or profession in the sciences.
The multidisciplinary program appealed to Brown-Johnson who is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at McGill University and Interim Chief of Family Medicine in the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
“It offered an early introduction to the scientific method with hands-on research,” said the trailblazer who was also accepted into McGill University’s Biochemistry program.
It also helped that the Science College’s founding Principal, Dr. Elaine B. Newman, was in Brown-Johnson’s corner.
“I was proactively pursued by her and she even hired me the summer before I started undergraduate studies to expose me to what the innovative interdisciplinary program and the university environment would be like,” she said.
A Math lover in elementary school, Brown-Johnson was turned on to the Sciences in Grade Nine.
“That was when I discovered Biology, Physics and Chemistry and I just couldn’t have enough of those subjects,” she noted. “I was fascinated with learning about the human body at a time when my grandmother was ageing and becoming frail which I witnessed first-hand. That is where my passion for caring for the elderly and vulnerable populations originated.”
As a 13-year-old returning to the classroom after summer vacation, Brown-Johnson was quick to respond when asked by her teacher if she had a specific career in mind.
“I said ‘math teacher and nurse’ and after thinking for nearly two minutes about my response, the teacher asked if I had ever thought about becoming a medical doctor,” she said. “I said ‘no’ and as I started to think about it, I realized later on that the reason I hadn’t given that profession any thought was because I had never been exposed to doctors. That’s when I started to think about medicine and learning more about it.”
Obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Honours Biology with Distinction, Brown-Johnson completed a year of doctorate studies in Molecular Biology & Genetics at McGill before enrolling in Medicine in 1984 and participating in the Canadian Forces Medical Officer Training Program for one summer.
Medical Officers provide primary health care services for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members at a Canadian Forces Health Services Clinic or overseas in support of peace efforts or support, combat or humanitarian missions.
“That was a rather spontaneous decision I made to explore something new while getting in shape and helping to further develop leadership skills that were innately important to me,” she said. “I did that out of curiosity and was influenced in part by my brother who had also enrolled.”
Two years younger, Dr. Lancelot Anthony Brown spent his first 14 years in Jamaica with his sibling and served in the Canadian Forces Dental Services for eight years where he was appointed the officer-in-charge of the Royal Military College Dental Clinic. He held the rank of Captain from 1989-1992.
Earning her Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degree in 1988, Brown-Johnson completed her residency training in Family Medicine at Montreal General Hospital and attained certification from the College of Family Physicians of Canada two years later before starting her career as the sole practitioner providing medical services to the Cree population of Waskaganish in James Bay from 1990-1992.
“Working with the Indigenous population then was something that was done by design because I wanted to challenge myself,” she said. “In that position, I had to manage everything from dealing with patients suffering heart attacks and car accident victims to mothers requiring prenatal care or suffering a miscarriage. I had an opportunity to practice the broad scope of family medicine and had to rely on my history-taking and clinical skills without the luxury of immediate access to advanced technology. I also appreciated learning about the Cree population and culture, the friendships that were formed and the community programs I helped to facilitate.”
Never one to back down from a challenge, Brown-Johnson jumped at an opportunity to provide medical services to elderly patients and perform administrative responsibilities, including Chief of Medicine in the town of Gaspe that’s nearly 650 kilometers northeast of Quebec City.
Overwhelmed by the city’s stunning scenery and well received and supported by the nurses and other interdisciplinary team members, she spent over eight years in the harbour city before McGill University recruited her in 1999. In between, the medical practitioner lived in Toronto on and off for five years up until 1995 and received the Royal Canadian Legion Fellowship Award that facilitated formal training in the care of the elderly at the University of Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care under the supervision of Dr. Michael Gordon.
Her teaching contributions have included developing the Transition Care Course/Workshop for final-year medical students during their Geriatrics rotation at MUHC; supervising foreign medical graduates during clinical observerships, Family Medicine residents and third-year Family Medicine Fellows clerkship and/or elective rotations, and serving as Course Director of the then annual McGill Interdisciplinary Geriatric Seminar attended by interdisciplinary healthcare professionals from across the health system.
Brown-Johnson is also a facilitator for Clinical Method I and Formation of the Healer & Professionalism Courses, an Objective Structured Clinical Examination examiner for the Physical Examination component of the Longitudinal Family Medicine Experience Course and Co-Developer and McGill University Health Centre Site Coordinator for the Enhanced Skills Program in Hospital Medicine, in collaboration with St. Mary’s Hospital Centre and the Jewish General Hospital.
She has led the MUHC’s Department of Family Medicine’s Secondary Care division through several transformations in the last 16 years, including the expansion of family medicine training in collaboration with the Family Medicine Executive and the Departments of Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Surgery.
In addition to being the Quebec Division President of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award and a member of its national board of directors, she’s an honourary board member of the Montreal Community Cares Foundation and sits on the board of directors of MUHC representing the Montreal Regional Department of General Medicine (DRMG), and on the board of directors of the Indigenous Health Centre of Tiohtià:ke that seeks to improve health outcomes, quality of life and social determinants of health for the Indigenous population of Montreal and surrounding areas through development and implementation of culturally competent, holistic health service delivery, with emphasis on enhancing accessibility and continuity of care.
Brown-Johnson's commitment to community service and philanthropy exceeds a quarter century, ranging from mentoring students and sponsoring annual academic scholarships together with her husband, to promoting access to post-secondary studies in Jamaica through support of the ‘Music Through the Ages’ annual benefit concert and financially supporting access to pre-kindergarten education in Jamaica and Canada through the Project for the Advancement of Childhood Education (PACE) Canada.
Married since 1990 to Bahamian-born Dr. Dexter Johnson who has a Doctor of Medicine degree from New York Medical College (Valhalla) and is a dual degree board certified Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon trained at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the couple has two children.
Anastasia Johnson graduated from The University of Toronto in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (Philosophy Specialist with Minor in French) and completed the two-year Honours Professional Certificate in Musical Theatre at the American Musical & Dramatic Academy, College & Conservatory of the Performing Arts at the New York and Los Angeles Campuses before enrolling last year in New York University’s Tisch College of the Arts Master of Fine Arts Graduate Musical Theatre program.
The first Quebec teenager to perform at Carnegie Hall as part of the American High School Honours Performance Series program, Johnson – whose stage name is Ana Stasia – released her first single in 2016 and her debut EP – Best Life – was shortlisted at last year’s Grammy Awards for Best R & B Album. The album’s debut radio single, ‘Shade’ was also shortlisted for Best R & B Performance, Best R & B Song and Record of the Year in addition to being featured on Billboard.
Her younger brother, Nicholas, was one of twelve Quebec Rhodes Scholar finalists this year. Graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree from Princeton University this spring, he has been accepted into PhD programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Toronto.
To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, Brown-Johnson and five other Montreal-based female health care professionals of colour were recognized at a Caribbean Tea party at Cote St. Luc Aquatic & Community Centre.
The other honourees were Drs. Penny-Jane Baylis, Nana Graves, Zahra Sohani, Fadji Koffi and Stephanee Bakare.
Event organizer Gemma Raeburn-Baynes is the President of Playmas Montreal Cultural Association which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
