Guiding the Next Generation

About Dr. Brands

Chad Brands, MD, CPE, SFHM

Dr. Brands completed medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and a combined residency program in Internal Medicine – Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.  His passion for program building in medical education was fueled by being a resident physician leader in this innovative new program in graduate medical education.

While a resident physician, he became a pioneering hospitalist who has contributed in multifaceted ways to the development of the new specialty of Hospital Medicine during his career as a physician leader and program builder. He was recognized as a Senior Fellow in Hospital Medicine by the Society for Hospital Medicine for his contributions to the field of hospital medicine, including patient care, medical education, scholarship, and administrative leadership.

Dr. Brands is a certified physician executive and was tapped to serve on the Inaugural Editorial Board for the Physician Leadership Journal with the American College of Physician Executives.  He has helped launch new medical schools as well as multiple new enterprises in Graduate Medical Education.  He has been consulted for his expertise in starting and building programs after overseeing the development and growth of residency and fellowship programs in many different specialties of medicine and surgery. Dr. Brands has also created and fostered the growth of physician groups, both hospital-based and office-based. He is consulted as an expert diagnostician in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, having earned the reputation from his peers as a doctor’s doctor and has been named to America’s Best Doctors.

He served in numerous leadership positions in patient care and medical education with the Mayo Clinic - Minnesota and Johns Hopkins Medicine, serving as the Founding Director of Medical Education for Johns Hopkins Medicine - Florida in Tampa - St. Pete.  He also worked as an executive physician leader in two Vice President roles in leading health systems in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, building the infrastructure across multiple hospitals for hundreds of new residency and fellowship positions in graduate medical education in North Texas.  Dr. Brands has served as Designated Institutional Official for Graduate Medical Education with four start-up organizations.  He has served as an Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and a Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs with oversight of community-based physicians and medical students at 10 hospital sites in six states.  He enjoyed serving as the senior clinical officer for a new community-based, university-led faculty practice plan started by a new medical school at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  While at Liberty, he worked with many colleagues during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic to promote excellent medical care provided by students, residents, and faculty in this new system.  While building new programs and ensuring their accreditation successes, he also fostered Liberty’s 100% Match Rate for its new medical school graduates and was promoted to Professor of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Brands has served multiple stints as an Internal Medicine Program Director in Florida and the Midwest.  He enjoys developing the clinical – educational - scholar - leader pathway and coaching colleagues on their individual career trajectories.  He has consistently positioned new and established graduate medical education programs to achieve excellence in the delivery of medical care, medical education, and scholarship and research for the benefit of incoming resident physicians, interprofessional healthcare teams, medical students, and patients and their families. This team-based care model prepares students and resident/fellow physicians to provide excellent healthcare to patients while equipping physicians to be leaders in graduate medical education and beyond.

Medical students, residents, and fellows have presented their work with Dr. Brands’ mentorship guidance at numerous regional, national, and international meetings, receiving numerous accolades and winning many awards individually and as groups in graduate medical education. His scholarship and leadership efforts continue to be dedicated to building new clinical and educational programs in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education while mentoring many students, residents, and fellows in presenting their collaborative work with colleagues at regional, national, and international meetings and publishing their outcomes in the peer-reviewed literature. 

Outside medicine he enjoys outdoor activities including hiking and photography, as well as writing, editing, music, and spending time with his great family. He enthusiastically believes that medicine is a calling and remains passionate about guiding, coaching, and mentoring the next generations of physicians to become leaders in medicine.