Dr. Charmaine Browne
Treating with a dose of Respect
By: Cori Smelker
Being completely satisfied and happy with where you are is a rare attribute, but one that Caribbean born Dr. Charmaine Browne seems to have. With the lilt of the islands that permeates her speech, she talks candidly about herself and her love of medicine in general and of course dermatology.
“My husband, who is an orthopedic hand surgeon, and I were in Toronto Canada, completing our residency programs when he was offered a position in McAllen,” Dr. Browne explains. “After having lived and trained in the United Kingdom and Canada, we were both tired of the snow and cold. McAllen sounded wonderful, and after flying down we realized that the Valley offered everything we were looking for in a community.” It was small enough to feel personal, but large enough that their practices could grow. “I still had to complete my residency program so he moved down in 1998 and I followed him in 2000,” says Dr. Browne. She founded The Dermatology Institute of South Texas soon after moving.
Not content to merely have a private practice, Dr. Browne has kept a position in academia. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at South Western University in Dallas where she has received an award for outstanding teaching. With an international airport at McAllen it is a fairly easy commute. “I really enjoy teaching and the residents keep me on my toes,” she laughs. “I also love to receive my medical journals in the mail. I read them from cover to cover and glean as much new knowledge as possible from them.” Reading and lecturing, and conducting clinics with her students ensures that she is always armed with the latest findings, which is good for her practice. “Preparing for my lectures forces me to revisit areas that I might not have revisited,” Dr. Browne says.
Her vast teaching experience definitely stands her in good stead when she is with her patients, but she also believes being the only female dermatologist in the Rio Grande Valley has helped too. “Patients seem to feel comfortable with me,” she says. Of course that might well be because she practices the "Golden Rule" in her office. She treats everyone in the way she would like to be treated. She also takes her patient’s symptoms seriously. She has been known to make international calls on a patient’s behalf to try and get a satisfactory answer to a perplexing problem. She calls on her staff in the office to do the same thing. “My office is only as good as the people in our team,” Dr. Browne says emphatically. “I tell them that they need to always treat everyone who comes through our doors with respect. These are not just my patients, they are my friends too.” In fact she met the architect who designed their home, and her nanny through patients.
How does a doctor who could practice any specialty choose dermatology? For Dr. Browne it all began in medical school. “The skin is the largest organ in the body and yet we spend so little time studying it. It fascinated me precisely because we skimmed right over it.” In specializing, and in learning from others, dermatologists like Dr. Browne have discovered that there is a definite link between how the skin behaves and the internal organs. “The eyes might be the windows to the soul,” she chuckles, “but the skin is the window to the internal organs.”
The medical and surgical side of the practice is extremely important to Dr. Browne. “We live in a climate that is sun-cancer inducing,” she says. “I have had patients come to see me when it is almost too late.” Browne says unfortunately many people ignore the warning signals their skin gives them, and simply hope that the problem will go away. “Cancer is a word that scares people. But skin cancer is one of the most preventable, and also one of the most curable cancers of all.”
Dr. Browne feels fortunate that she can call on the expertise of doctors from throughout the country when necessary. “I want my patients to be confident that they are getting the best possible care from the moment they walk in through the doors.” The advances she has seen in skin care excite her. “Things have changed, even from the time I started nine years ago.” She is hopeful that as people worry more about their skin’s appearance, they will also become more aware of the dangers of sun exposure and more educated about the many systemic diseases that can affect the skin.
At the end of the day though, she does not want anyone to feel that they cannot come into her office because they have left treatment too late. “Regardless of the patients’ circumstance, I am here to serve them and look after them.”
She has a daughter four years old and between her family, her practice and her position as clinical assistant professor, Dr. Charmaine Browne’s life is full. But she would not have it any other way. “I am blessed,” she says. “I look at what I have and I thank God every day for all of his blessings.”
