Kimberly Browne, MSW’06, has built a career at the intersection of healthcare, leadership, and social work. Now serving as Vice President of Patient and Family Services at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, she oversees a broad portfolio of programs dedicated to supporting patients, families, and care teams while advancing person-centered care. Drawing on the systems perspective, advocacy skills, and commitment to social good she developed at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), Browne has spent her career creating innovative solutions to complex healthcare challenges and expanding opportunities for social workers in leadership. In this Q&A, she reflects on her SP2 experience, the moments that shaped her professional journey, and why she believes social workers belong at the executive table. 

Why did you choose Penn and SP2?

As I reflect on the wild reality that I am already twenty years out from my graduation from SP2, I can recall vividly how much thought went into determining the right master’s program for me. I contemplated a handful of the top-rated programs, and a few things about Penn made it feel like the Goldilocks “just right” fit for me. I chose SP2’s Master of Social Work program because I wanted an education that would challenge me intellectually, immerse me in a diverse urban community, and prepare me to become the kind of social worker, and ultimately leader, I hoped to be. After having attended a smaller liberal arts school in a rather suburban area, I knew I wanted the experience of living, learning, and interning in a city environment. University City and West Philadelphia have so much history and culture that I knew I’d grow living there, and once I set foot on Locust Walk, I was positively enchanted. I really appreciated the structure of the curriculum and, in particular, the strong emphasis given to the study of racism and its influence societally and on social work practice. That emphasis challenged me to think beyond individual interventions and understand how systems, policy, and structural inequities shape outcomes – an approach that continues to influence my leadership today. Additionally, I was impressed by the caliber of educators at SP2, and I am so grateful to say that several of my professors remain mentors and friends to this day. I’m certain I am not the only SP2 alum who has had quite a few “what would [late SP2 faculty member] Joe McBride do in this situation?” moments over the years, and I have many times over felt deep appreciation for his wise words echoing in my mind.

I cannot begin to say how much I loved my time at Penn and in Philadelphia. I stayed in the city for quite a few years post-graduation, and to this day, Philly feels like home to me. The diversity across the city, the grit and authenticity of its people, the rich, albeit not uncomplicated, history of Philadelphia, the impressive arts and cultural scene – all of it comes together to create an experience that simply cannot be replicated elsewhere. I have dear friends I made in my SP2 years, and you can catch us at a minimum of one Eagles game per season – Go Birds! – though we are Quakers at heart. Looking back, I realize Penn didn’t simply prepare me to practice social work – it shaped the systems-oriented, relationship-centered approach to leadership that has guided my career ever since.

When did you first know you wanted to be involved in this kind of work? Why? 

I had a college internship at an HIV clinic in a small town in central Pennsylvania; it was there that I discovered the field of social work and realized this would be my path. In the early 2000s, there was significant stigma around this condition, and I found myself fully leaning into understanding the experience of each individual, learning about their priorities, their pain points, and their wishes and aspirations for the future. Though I could see such an array of meaningful ways to support clients and their families, I was acutely aware of my own need to learn more in order to approach this work with humility, compassion, and dignity. I’d also always wanted to work in healthcare, but knew I never wanted to be in a hands-on clinical role, so medical social work was a natural fit for me.

What did you like the most about your experience at SP2? What would you consider the key takeaways? 

For me, the greatest thing about SP2 was the professors. I can’t tell you how many times across my career I’ve had the words of these wise people ringing in my ears as I have made critical decisions. The gift of being challenged professionally and personally across my two years at Penn will reside in me forever and truly has shaped my journey. Whenever I have achieved a major milestone, I’ve longed to be able to hear how Joe McBride would react – I can only hope I’ve been making him proud along the way. 

My field placements were also crucial to shaping my learning. As a learner, I found that the time spent in the field is as much about determining the environments in which you would want to work as where you wouldn’t, and why. Being able to process through the challenges and the victories in our practice classes was eye-opening; my peers became important teachers as we openly and critically evaluated different scenarios and perspectives.

What led you to your current position?

Over the course of my career, I’ve maintained a mentality of walking through doors as they open. I like to tell folks that I mentor or supervise that if you wait until you feel fully prepared for the next opportunity, you’ll probably never take that leap, but if you find the courage to jump, there’s a great chance that your parachute will open and you’ll be just fine. I have made every effort to live by this philosophy myself, so as new challenges have come my way, I’ve run toward them.

At my first hospital, I fell in love with direct practice with patients and their families, yet also knew that I could have far-reaching impact helping to oversee the program. I moved rather rapidly into a leadership role and worked as social work manager for several years. This was at an academic medical center that was, at that time, part of a one-hospital medical system, so when I learned of an opportunity within a multi-hospital healthcare system that had its own payor, extensive ambulatory, and post-acute continuum, I knew this would provide me important exposure and development in spite of being essentially a lateral move. I relocated across the nation for this opportunity and learned a tremendous amount in this new environment. I think it was because of this that I was perceived to be ready for the next role that came my way; I was recruited to a safety net hospital to help build clinical social work programs to support the needs of patients experiencing psychosocial issues adversely affecting their utilization of the healthcare system. I absolutely loved the creativity and independence afforded to me in this role and wasn’t expecting to make a change, but was then contacted for my present role. 

What appealed to me about this opportunity was the chance to have an expanded portfolio, adding teams including Interpreter Services, Spiritual Care Services, International Medicine, Palliative Care, Family Guidance and Bereavement, in addition to Social Work and Case Management. It has been such an incredible journey, and I feel extraordinarily grateful to have had such an array of experiences along the way.

What professional accomplishments have been most meaningful to you and why?

The professional accomplishments that have been most meaningful to me have fallen into two categories: ideating and innovating to create systems that improve care for entire populations, and helping individual patients change the trajectory of their lives. At two different health systems, I was invited to design programs addressing prolonged hospital stays among patients experiencing health-related social needs. One initiative established medical respite beds within a local homeless shelter so patients could safely receive home health services outside the hospital. In another, I helped create a partnership with a residential substance use treatment program, allowing patients requiring prolonged IV antibiotics to complete treatment in an environment that also supported recovery from addiction. More recently, I have had the privilege of contributing to the launch of a proactive workplace violence prevention program geared toward recognizing and preemptively mitigating situations that preclude safe delivery of care. These initiatives were especially meaningful because they addressed gaps in care that traditional healthcare systems often struggle to solve, allowing patients to recover in settings better suited to their medical and social needs. I’m proud that each initiative has been successful, even affording me opportunities to present nationally on their development and outcomes.

While I’m proud of the systems I’ve helped build, some of the moments that remain most meaningful to me happened long before I became an executive. For example, I will never forget receiving a phone call one afternoon from the front desk of the hospital I was working in at that time, letting me know that I had a visitor in the lobby. Curious, I went down and was astounded to see a patient who’d been discharged from our trauma unit nearly a year before. He experienced a host of medical complications throughout his rather lengthy admission, so I had ample time to work intensively with him using motivational interviewing to glean his readiness for substance treatment. After navigating quite a few twists and turns, I was able to place him in a treatment facility, and he’d come back that afternoon to let me know how it had changed his life – he was now happily employed, had stayed clean ever since, and was working on reconnecting with family members whose relationships had grown strained over the years. I could see in his eyes how proud he was to share this with me, so when he asked me what he could do to thank me for making all of this happen, I assured him that just letting me know was far more of a gift than he could possibly know. I reminded him that it was he, not I, who was to thank for changing his course, and I’d like to think that knowledge was a bit of a gift in return to him.

What are you looking forward to in your career, and how do you think your SP2 experience has or will impact your professional path?

SP2 prepared me to lead differently, and my career goal at this time is to demonstrate why social workers belong at the executive table. Looking ahead, I’m excited to continue expanding the presence and influence of social workers in executive leadership and to mentor others who aspire to similar paths. I feel incredibly proud to hold an executive level position at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, and I wear an equally large badge of honor to do so as a social worker. The values, ethics, and systems perspective I developed and strengthened at SP2 continue to shape how I lead today. They are also what make social workers uniquely valuable members of executive leadership teams, bringing systems thinking, policy perspective, and unabashed advocacy to organizational decision-making. The way we analyze communication and strengthen relationships helps organizations achieve greater success, build stronger cohesion, and uncover dimensions of complex challenges that might otherwise be overlooked. I intend to continue to find avenues to tout the merit of social workers as executives, as I’ve had the privilege of doing with the American College of Healthcare Executives and other professional organizations. Further, I hope that my work serves to encourage more social workers to see these roles as both attainable and essential to the future of healthcare.