About Dr. Brands

Chad Brands, MD, CPE, SFHM

Dr. Brands attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, graduating with High Honor, and then completed a combined residency 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 sparked 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 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 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. Dr. Brands is consulted frequently as a superb 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 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 three 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 sites in six states.  He has also enjoyed the privilege of leading hospitalist groups and 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 by students, residents, and faculty.  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 was the Founding Program Director of the Pediatric Program in Graduate Medical Education with Johns Hopkins - Florida and then 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 have been 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 peer-reviewed literature.  Outside medicine he enjoys outdoor activities including hiking and photography, as well as reading and writing, music, and spending time with his family.

When asked what he finds rewarding about the calling of medicine, Dr. Brands shares, “Guiding, coaching, and mentoring the next generation of physicians to become leaders!”