The Class of 2023 thanks Dr. Haydee C. Brown for delivering an inspiring keynote address encouraging graduates to take action on big dreams. She highlighted the transformational power of gratitude and its ability to  produce a positive chemical reaction in our brains and bodies.  Staying true to her motto, Live. Love. Serve, Dr. Brown’s speech moved  and empowered students to continue doing good for themselves and society.

Read Dr. Brown’s bio below.

“Haydee C. Brown, MD is a nationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon and social justice advocate delivering world-class musculoskeletal care to the greater New York Metropolitan Area. In the summer of 2021, Dr. Brown was appointed the Chief of the Orthopaedic Surgery Service at NYC H+H Harlem Hospital. During her tenure there she restructured the service- recruiting seven BIPOC subspecialty trained Orthopaedic surgeons, acquiring modern equipment, and building an evidenced-based musculoskeletal health program centered on health equity.

Dr. Brown is a graduate of Wellesley College and NYU School of Medicine. She completed her Orthopaedic training at the world renown Hospital for Special Surgery-Weil Cornell Medical College and remained there for an advanced foot and ankle fellowship. She completed residency and advanced foot and ankle fellowship training at top ranked Hospital for Special Surgery. Dr. Brown currently serves as an Associate Clinical Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital/Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Dr. Brown has cared for members of the NY Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, NY Giants, American Ballet Theater (ABT), New York City Ballet (NYCB) and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT), among many others from all walks of life and professions.

One of few Afro-Latina professionals in her field, Dr. Brown lives by the motto: Live. Love. Serve. She is a proud member of the Harlem chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Through her work, volunteerism, speaking engagements, collaborations, and mentoring, she promotes equality, diversity, education and inclusion in healthcare. In 2020, Dr. Brown served as a New York Medical Reserve Corps volunteer in a South Bronx Emergency Room, assisting with Covid-19 patients. That same year, Dr. Brown founded Black Women Orthopaedic Surgeons (BWOS) to help address glaring healthcare inequities within underserved communities. Today, the organization empowers Black women in the field through mentoring, activism and education while advocating for health equity.

A native Harlemite and former dancer who performed in Alvin Ailey’s “Memoria” with AAADT, Dr. Brown was inspired by her own injury and recovery to enter orthopaedic surgery. Her own experiences inform an intimate understanding of the importance of movement—one that motivates her to help people get back to dancing, competing, playing and working sooner.

Proud mom to a young son, Dr. Brown resides in Harlem. When she’s not caring for patients or working to make the world a better place, she enjoys dancing, riding her Peloton, and spending time with family.”