Matthew Curtis Brown, M.D. Obstetrics and Gynecology

Written by Rebecca D. Nipper

While growing up, Dr. Matthew Curtis Brown saw how happy his father, Dr. Robert S. Brown was in his job. He knew that he wanted medicine for his career and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. After exploring other avenues, “I thought that since my dad and I were so much alike that I would like medicine as much as he did… and I do. We are just in different fields.” Dr. Matt C. Brown is an OB/GYN, his father an Ophthalmologist.

A native of Iowa City and graduate of Dowling High School, Dr. Brown completed his pre-med at Lake Forest College and earned his medical degree from Creighton University. In medical school he waited for his very final rotation of his third year to take OB/GYN because he didn’t think he would like it and wanted to get it over with at the end. Ironically he liked OB/GYN the most. “I pursued other rotations in my 4th year to confirm OB/GYN was the specialty I wanted to practice in and then went for it.” He completed his residency at the University of Illinois at Peoria.

While in Peoria, Dr. Brown met his wife Heather through mutual friends. They have two sons, Will 3 and Carson 19 months, however, they are still looking forward to new additions to the family. Heather is involved in and has managed several community projects in Des Moines and her hometown of Peoria, Illinois where she and Matt worked closely together. A particular project that is close to them is the Make A Wish Foundation. Matt tells of a story of a friend who has a younger brother with MS and had a wish to see the Pope. Through the foundation the boy was flown to Rome and able to listen to Mass at the Vatican.

A unique hobby of Dr. Brown’s is acquiring and maintaining aquariums in which he modestly refers to as ‘fish tanks.’ He personally maintains a spectacular aquarium display at his new office at 330 Laurel Street, Suite 1100 which has literally been built into the structure of the reception area. He enjoys another three aquariums at his home. There is no surprise then that he possess’ other aquatic talents. In college he was an accomplished swimmer receiving a Student Athletic Award. He also enjoys scuba diving, however, has yet to find the time to vacation and utilize his diving skills. One of his favorite things is fishing, and plans to do a lot of it with his own sons as his father is building a pond

Inheriting many of his father’s talents and passions, listening to and playing music is one of them. “He got me interested in music and we have always had a lot to talk about and are very close…although the fish tanks were my idea,” he adds with a smile. Like his father, Dr. Brown plays the bass guitar noting dad also plays the drums. He grew up listening to his father play the guitar and enjoyed listening to old bands like Grand Funk Railroad and War. “Dad and I share all the same hobbies. We like all kinds of cars from old cars to sports cars and we ride motorcycles together and have taken road trips out to Colorado.”

The Brown family is deeply connected with medical tradition in our community. His great uncle, Dr. Robert Stickler was President of Polk County Medical Society in 1966. His father has been involved in many medical activities as well. Dr. Brown is very busy with his OB/GYN practice and family at present but does not rule out future leadership and political roles in the medical community. There are many issues he is concerned about with the growing cost of practicing medicine through government mandates and insurance reimbursement issues but feels he would have to give up what he’s doing now to give such a job 100 percent. He sees the hard work, the amount of time and toll it takes on some of his colleagues. So although this may be a distant goal for Dr. Brown, he looks forward to his own OB/GYN department and leadership role in that before he moves on to politics.

For now, Dr. Brown is content with his busy OB/GYN practice and raising his family. He points out that his father was such an influential and positive part of his childhood experience and aspirations in medicine that it was just ‘an automatic’ to be just like dad. “People always say if you could be like anybody who would you chose or I want to be like, JFK or a famous movie actor…me, I always thought, I want to do exactly what my dad does...I want to be just like him.”