Stuart L. Brown, MD
Trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry and clinical research, Stuart Brown first recognized the importance of play by discovering its absence in the life stories of murderers and felony drunken drivers. His years of clinical practice affirmed the importance and need for healthy play throughout the human life cycle, and his later evaluation of highly creative individuals revealed the centrality of playfulness to their success and well-being. His recent years of independent scholarship and exploration of the evolution of human and animal play have helped to focus a central commitment bringing the promises and stories of play into general cultural consciousness and to the establishment of the Institute For Play. The Mission of the Institute for Play (IFP) is to bring the unrealized knowledge, practices and benefits of play into public life Dr. Brown was the instigator and Executive Producer of the three-part PBS series, "The Promise of Play." His experience as medical administrator, producer, and scientific consultant or creator to numerous other productions on Joseph Campbell, Cosmology, Animal Play, plus his scientific and popular writings have identified him as the foremost "practical champion of the knowledge of play."

MAJOR CURRENT PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

President, The Institute for Play
Independent Scholarship, Play Behavior
Consultant, The Mattel Corporation
Associate, Vincent and Associates

EDUCATION

B.S., Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois

Research Fellow, Dept. of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine

M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING

Internship, U.S. Naval Hospital, San Diego, California. Rotating General.

Fellow, Internal Medicine, Mayo Foundation

Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Program
        Psychiatry, Assistant Resident
        Chief Resident
        Recipient, Eugene Kahn Award for Excellence in Psychiatry

MILITARY SERVICE

U.S. Naval Medical Officer, USS Bexar, APA 237

Senior Assistant Medical Officer, USNAS Miramar. Pediatrics, OB-GYN, General Medicine

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS/BOARD CERTIFICATION/FELLOWSHIPS

Assistant Dean and Fellow in Medical Student Counseling, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Baylor College Of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Board Certification, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Examiner, Associate Examiner, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego (Voluntary Clinical Faculty)

Visiting Professor-Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School, MacLean Hospital Division, Department of Psychiatry
Fellow, American Psychiatric Association

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
        Taught medical students courses in Psychopathology, Levels 1-4
        Taught and developed short-term intensive psychotherapy course, levels 3-4
        Supervision, Psychiatric Residents

Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, San Diego, California

Developed, directed Emergency-Liaison Service

Assisted in establishing and sustaining pre and postdoctoral clinical training program, Psychology

University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
        Dept of Psychiatry, VA Hospital, Clinical Teaching
        Psychiatry Residents, Clinical Supervision

University of California, Berkeley

Taught extension courses and seminars on Joseph Campbell, Mythology, James Joyce, Human Nature and Play.

The Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio
        Conducted Graduate Seminars on Animal and Human Play.

Stanford University

Multiple Lectures, Seminars on the Evolution of Play Behavior and The Promise of Play

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (PARTIAL LIST)

Consultant in Psychiatry, V.A. Hospital, Houston, Texas

Consulting Psychiatrist, State of Texas, Governor John Connally's Fact Finding Task Force, Charles J. Whitman Texas Tower Case

Investigator with D. Freedman (Grant #HD-0276) Studies on the Evolution of Psychic Structure

Principal Investigator, Hogg Foundation Grant, Pilot Study of Young Murderers

Principal Investigator (Grant #FH-6603) Study of Alcohol and Traffic Safety-A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Behavioral, Medical and Engineering Aspects of Traffic Safety

Principal Investigator (Grant #FH-11-6798) Medico-Engineering Aspects of Auto Safety, Established an Interdisciplinary Traffic Safety Team and Training Institute; Houston, Texas

Founding Clinical Director, Dept of Psychiatry, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, San Diego, California

Private Practice, General Psychiatry, La Jolla, California

Chief of Psychiatry, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, San Diego, California

General Partner, Mythology, Ltd. (Educational Film Partnership)

Executive Producer, "The Hero's Journey, The World of Joseph Campbell" documentary film; theatrical release 1987-1988, nationwide broadcast on PBS 1988-present

President, Holoform Research Inc., a non-profit educational foundation

Project Director, Mind-Science Foundation. A study of special educational environments.

Consultant, CBS "Children to Cain" TV documentary on the causes and prevention of violence aired nationwide, April 1986

Project Director, "Transformations of Myth Through Time" PBS Adult Learning Telecourse. Fourteen one hour video programs plus supplementary texts, broadcast and distributed nationwide, PBS, 1989-2001, re-released as “Mythos” Series for PBS, 2000.

Project Co-Director, "Wings Of Art" six hour adult learning television series (Joseph Campbell on James Joyce) broadcast PBS-ALS.

Co-Executive Producer, three hour BBC Series on Cosmology and Spirituality, "The Soul of the Universe" a co-production between BBC and Holoform Research, Inc.

Author, &quot Animals At Play," article for the National Geographic Magazine published, December, 1994

Co-Producer, “Play, the Nature of the Game” National Geographic Television Division program on animals and humans at play, broadcast, January 1995 (TBS)

Board Member, Jane Goodall Institute

Editor, ReVision Magazine, “The Evolution of Play” Spring Edition, Volume 17, #4

Founder and President, The Institute for Play

Executive Producer, “The Promise of Play,” A three hour PBS series broadcast 2000-2006.

Board Member, New World Paradigm, Inc. Alexandria, Virginia, a start-up research-based broadband fiberoptic company

Senior Executive Vice President and Board Member, Optreon. Inc, San Jose, California, an all-optical start-up R&D company.

Chairman, Advisory Board, Globeam Corp, Alexandria, Virginia, a start-up free space optical communication company.

Consultant, Nike Corporation,

Consultant, Mattel Corporation, 2-year project to apply play principles to product design, marketing and corporate vision.

Consultant, Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY

Associate, Vincent and Associates, San Anselmo, Ca.

President, The National Institute for Play

PUBLICATIONS AND REPRESENTATIVE PRESENTATIONS (Partial List)

Charalampous, K. and Brown, S.L., A Clinical Trial of Alpha-Methyl para Tyosine in Mentally Ill Patients, Psychopharmacologia, 1967, 11.422-429

Freedman, D.A. and Brown, S.L., On the Role of Coenesthetic Stimulation in the Evolution of Psychic Structure. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1968, 37:418-438

Brown, S.L., Bohnert, P.J., Smith, J.P., Pokorny, A.D., Drivers Who Die. Alcohol Safety Study prepared under contract with the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Safety Bureau, No. FH-11-6603, Final Report 1968, Baylor University College of Medicine

Brown, S.L., White, A.W., Smith, J.P., Petrany, A., and Finch, J.R., Medico-Engineering Training Program, Final Report, 1968. Prepared under contract with U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Safety Bureau, No. FH-11-6798, Baylor University College Of Medicine

"Drivers Who Die,” Presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts,

"Pilot Study of Young Murderers," Hogg Foundation Annual Lecture, Austin, Texas,

Freedman, D.A., Brown, S.L. and Fox-Kolenda, B.J., A Multi-Handicapped Rubella Baby: The First Eighteen Months. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, Vol. 9., No. 2, April 1970.

Feighner, J.P., Brown, S.L. and Olivier, J.E., Electrosleep Therapy: A Controlled Double Blind Study, Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. Vol. 157, No. 2, 1973.

"The Psychiatry of Violence." Western Federation of Neurological Sciences, San Diego, California, .

Cousineau, P. and Brown, S.L., The Hero's Journey: The World Of Joseph Campbell, Harper & Collins, 3 Printings,

“Wings of Art, James Joyce and Joseph Campbell,” Course, U.C. Berkeley.

“Animals and Humans at Play,” Co-Convenor of 4-Day Seminar with Joseph Meeker for the Union Institute, Tucson, Arizona, , San Francisco, California.

“Animals At Play,” National Geographic Magazine, Dec. 1994

“Through the Lens of Play” ReVison Magazine, Spring, 1995, Vol. 17, #4. 1995

“People At Play,” Telluride Magazine, Spring-Summer 1996.

California Academy of Sciences, Speaker, Panelist, “Neoteny and the Human Condition.”

Play as an Organizing Principal: Clinical Evidence and Personal Observations,” Chapter 12 in Animal Play, edited by Bekoff and Byers, Cambridge University Press, 1998

The Commonwealth Club of California, Speaker, "Play and You, from Mozart to Robin Williams.”

State of the World Forum, San Francisco, Speaker, “Play and the Prevention of Violence.”

The National Audubon Society Keynote, Annual Meeting-“The Evolution of Bird-Animal Play and the Status of Humans at Play”-

Annual Meeting, Steiner-Waldorf Schools, Sacramento, California, Keynote, “Settings Necessary for Play and Learning.”

The Alliance for Childhood, Columbia University, 4-day Symposium, Speaker, Panelist, “Play and Achieving Wholeness.” 2001

American Medical Response Corp., Annual Meeting, Western Division, Speaker, “Your Self Discovery of Play.”

Stanford University, Multiple Audiences (Alumni Association, Sophomore Orientation, Extension Courses), “The Promise of Play”, The Evolution and Significance of Play Behavior, , etc.

Numerous School Boards, Parent Associations, Presentations generally on Play and Learning, with emphasis on the negative correlation between discontinuance of the Arts and Music, lessening of recess time and academic performance; the positive reinforcing relationship of the love of learning, to movement and play.

Roche Company , Bio Science Division, “Play and Creativity”

Consortium of Private Schools, Annual lecture, San Diego “Play and Learning”

American Play Therapy Association, Annual International meeting, Norfolk, Va., Keynote address, “Play, the Mother of Invention”

University of Michigan Medical Center, Grand Rounds, Mott Children’s Hospital, “What Nature Wants You to Know About Play”

Stanford University, E-Day speaker, Nature’s Design for Play, (and our cultural failure to honor it)