Safety, business continuity functions combined

UT Southwestern Medical Center has created a new Office of Safety and Business Continuity by merging the Office of Environmental Health and Safety and the Office of Business Continuity. The combined group will be led by Dr. Bruce Brown, who has been named Assistant Vice President of Safety and Business Continuity.

Dr. Bruice Brown
Dr. Bruce Brown, Assistant Vice President of Safety and Business Continuity

“The merger will allow us to take advantage of the natural synergy between the two offices’ functions and areas of responsibilities,” said Arnim Dontes, Executive Vice President for Business Affairs. “We will be able to marry our safety and risk control efforts with our risk financing and insurance coverages. We also will build upon our business continuity planning efforts to develop a continuity of operations plan involving a robust emergency management program and active hazard mitigation efforts.”

Dr. Brown joined UT Southwestern in May of 2014 after 16 years at the UT Health Science Center in Houston (UTHealth), where he was Director of Environmental Health and Safety. At UTHealth, Dr. Brown's responsibilities included biological safety, chemical safety, emergency management, environmental protection, fire and life safety, occupational safety, radiation safety, and risk management and insurance. Dr. Brown began his career at Silliker Laboratories, where he had a wide variety of duties, including serving as a microbiologist and safety officer.

“Dr. Brown has worked to improve our safety programs by partnering with departments across campus, developed program measures and metrics, and increased our institutional resiliency by advancing the emergency management program,” Mr. Dontes said.

Dr. Brown said, “We are very excited about this opportunity to take a holistic approach to ensure the safety and continuity of operations at UT Southwestern. First and foremost we want to assure the safety of our personnel so they are able to perform all of the great work they carry out everyday. We also aim to build upon our current preparedness and mitigation efforts to eliminate or limit any potential disruptions to our mission of providing excellence in education, innovative health care, and high-impact research.”

Dr. Brown graduated from UT Austin with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and completed a master’s degree and a Doctorate of Public Health degree in occupational and environmental health at the UT School of Public Health. Dr. Brown holds board certifications as a Certified Safety Professional, Certified Biological Safety Professional, and Certified Hazardous Materials Manager, and he is designated as an Associate in Risk Management.

Patrick Wascovich