Dr. Kwame Brown

Dr. Kwame M. Brown was part of the founding Board of Directors of the IYCA. He also currently serves as part of the Fitness and Wellness Section, Fairfax County Park Authority. He created the FUNction Program for Fairfax County, and innovative program that uses neurodevelopment principles to teach movement patterns to children by using fun games and activities. Dr. Brown serves on the Diversity Committee for Fairfax County Park Authority. In both South Florida and the Washington, DC area, Dr. Brown has worked with thousands of children, from competitive youth athletes to children with movement difficulties. In addition, he formerly worked as a Performance Coach at Chris Carter's FAST Program (Coral Springs, FL), where he has worked with many professional, college, and youth athletes.

Dr. Brown earned a Ph.D. (2003) from the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University (Washington, DC) with a concentration in spinal cord injury and sensorimotor development. He won the Maengwyn-Davies Award for Excellence in Neuroscience Research while at Georgetown, and was selected as a finalist for the best student presentations at the Joint Symposium of that National / International Neurotrauma Societies for his dissertation work. He was doing his postdoctoral work at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and was on his way to a promising career in Neuroscience research until he decided to work full time with children, to apply his knowledge in the field of neural development in a way that would more directly help solve the problem of youth inactivity and motor delay. Dr. Brown also holds a B.A. in Molecular Biology (1995) from Hampton University (Hampton, VA), is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and is a certified Yoga, Pilates and Zumba instructor.

Having been involved in neuroscience from the molecular level all the way up through human subjects, Dr. Brown has presented research at meetings for the Society for Neuroscience the National Neurotrauma Society, and the Virginia Recreation and Parks Society. He has been published in Developmental Brain Research and the Journal of Neurotrauma, and was content editor/coordinator for the second edition of the textbook Developmental Essentials.

A competitive 4.5 - 5.0 level tennis player who also dances hip hop, reggaeton, and salsa, Dr. Brown is a firm believer in the plasticity (adaptability) of the human nervous system. He is determined to educate those that work with children to ensure that these individuals are aware of the scientific principles governing development and apply these principles properly to provide for the safe and effective development of not only young athletes, but all children no matter their ability level or difficulty.