Stuart Brown, MD

Stuart Brown, MD, is trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry, and clinical research. He first discovered the importance of play by discerning its absence in a carefully studied group. He later became founding Clinical Director and Chief of Psychiatry at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center and an Associate Professor at UCSD in San Diego, California.

As he ended his clinical career, he believed that play could be the key to discovering the giftedness that is in everyone, but he realized that identifying the importance of play hadn’t fully revealed what play is. So, in 1989 upon leaving clinical medicine, he decided to pursue play in greater depth.

With the support of the National Geographic Society and Jane Goodall, he observed animal play in the wild. He became acquainted with the premier animal play experts in the world, and began to see play as a long evolved behavior important for the well-being and survival of animals.