11/6/2026 Beth Hart
Dr. Aaron Brown (Class of 2022) is Carle Illinois College of Medicine's first alumnus to rejoin Carle Health as an attending anesthesiologist. After earning accolades during his residency at Stanford, Brown will also help build on Carle Health's community outreach efforts and play a central role in training future Physician Innovators as they gain crucial clinical experience.
Written by Beth Hart
One of Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s first graduates is bringing his Stanford Medicine training and a passion for serving underserved populations back to Central Illinois to benefit patients and medical students. Dr. Aaron Brown (Class of 2022) is CI MED’s first alumnus to rejoin Carle Health as an attending anesthesiologist. He will also help build on Carle’s community outreach efforts and play a central role in training future Physician Innovators as they gain crucial clinical experience.
After completing residency at Stanford, Brown was drawn back to Carle Health and CI MED by the opportunity to influence healthcare access and contribute to CInbsp;MED’s educational mission. At Carle Health, Brown is an attending physician in the department of anesthesiology and the associate medical director for community health, building on Carle’s community outreach efforts to underserved populations.
“I'm really big on community engagement. I hope to see what I can do to really make a difference in the surrounding communities, especially for the individuals in some of these underserved communities,” Brown said.
He cites the Carle Health Mobile Clinic and Healthy Beginnings prenatal programs as good foundations to build on. “You advance health care when the individual you're trying to treat can see you actually in the community. It breaks that invisible barrier, so I hope to really be a face in the community that people can trust,” Brown said.
Brown welcomes the opportunity to share his unique perspective as both an alumnus and a strong mentor for CI MED students.
“Being an alum here, I think one thing I hope to contribute is some of my experiences from other places. Being trained at Stanford, they have a different approach, so I’m bringing some of those perspectives here, incorporating that into this innovative thinking that we have here at Carle Illinois,” Brown said.
As a medical student, Brown earned the James C. Leonard, MD, Gold-Headed Cane Award, the highest honor bestowed on a graduating CI MED student. During residency at Stanford, Brown was chosen by his peers to receive the prestigious Julian Wolfsohn Award, recognizing residents who demonstrate outstanding performance in clinical judgment, leadership, teaching, and kindness. He was also the 2025 recipient of the Dr. Miquell Miller Award for Promoting Diversity and Inclusion. He was also named ‘resident of the year’ while serving as chief resident at Stanford.
Brown is one of two CI MED alumni who have joined Carle Health in clinical roles following residency. Dr. Andrew Chang (Class of 2022) is a staff hospitalist at Carle Foundation Hospital after completing a three-year internal medicine residency locally. Since CI MED’s first class graduated in 2022, nine CI MED students have matched into residency at Carle Health.