Dr. Browne specialized in community-based research and worked with social agencies to conduct many projects.Courtesy of the Family
Nurse, nursing researcher, professor and family therapist Gina Browne used to quote the biblical phrase, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required,” and she lived her life according to this maxim.
As a professor at McMaster University for over 40 years, she led innovative health-care research aimed at vulnerable people, especially women. She offered early proof that integrated care – helping people with a co-ordinated approach that covered all their needs – was both more effective and more affordable.
“She was a pioneer. She believed that the government could save money if [it] took an integrated approach and offered more services. And she proved it,” says Carolyn Byrne, who was also a nursing professor at McMaster and a long-time collaborator and friend of Dr. Browne’s.
Dr. Browne died on Jan. 1 at age 75 from complications related to Parkinson’s disease.
A study that Dr. Browne and Dr. Byrne published in 1999 showed the benefits of subsidizing child care and recreational activities for children of families on social assistance. “It was such a hit with the mothers,” recalls Dr. Byrne of this unique program. The researchers heard stories from the families involved, including kids excelling in hockey and a child who had always wanted to dance appearing in The Nutcracker in Toronto.
“She thought about people holistically,” says her son Dillon Browne, who himself became a psychology professor. “She definitely was a social justice warrior. She always cared about the down-and-out and people who were looked over by society. That was her niche and she approached that with the mind of a brilliant academic but also the heart of a compassionate nurse.”
Gina Browne's wedding, 1974. Courtesy of the FamilyCourtesy of the Family
“The way she thought, she could just see linkages and issues that the rest of us passed over,” says friend and former colleague Robin Weir, also a nursing professor emeritus from McMaster.
Dr. Browne specialized in community-based research and worked with social agencies to conduct many projects. “She had warmth and she had an ability to create relationships,” Dr. Weir says. When she had an idea for a study, she often started by getting on the phone and talking to groups across Hamilton, convincing them to partner up to make it happen.
She did much of this work through the McMaster School of Nursing’s Health and Social Service Utilization Research Unit, which she founded in 1991 and directed for 25 years. The unit earned $25-million in research funding under her leadership.
Her people skills shone even brighter when she was speaking in public. Dr. Byrne recalls doing events with Dr. Browne – who was born in Kentucky – during which she’d leverage her drawl and southern charm to win over audiences. “I’m from Kentucky, where we have beautiful horses and fast women,” she’d quip.
During the Mike Harris Conservatives era in Ontario, which was notorious for its cutbacks to health care, Dr. Browne would joke, “Mr. Harris, I’m here to talk to you. … But he never gives me a call!”
“She made audiences come alive,” Dr. Byrne recalls.
While she worked as a nurse in her younger years, after completing her PhD and settling in at McMaster, in 1978 she became a family therapist. Fridays were her therapy days; she worked out of a primary care clinic in Burlington – she often got ideas for her research there.
Friends and family members remember her as a highly intelligent, talented and giving person.Courtesy of the Family
She was born Regina Maria Bohn, on Sept. 23, 1947, in Louisville, to Robert and Juliette (née Bisig) Bohn. She was the fourth in a family of 12 kids: six daughters and six sons. (Dillon says the siblings slept in six bunk beds at one point.)
Gina was a tomboy who, while considered brilliant academically later in life, struggled in school as a young woman.
Her older sister Dorothy Abrams recalls Gina convincing the nuns who ran the nursing program at Spalding University, in Louisville, Ky., to admit her, promising she would say a rosary every day to help improve her marks. They conceded. When her grades still faltered, she went back to them and said she just needed a novena, which entailed praying for nine days. “From there, she took off,” recalls Ms. Abrams, who says her sister worked hard for her accomplishments yet often credited her successes to others.
Young Gina had many offers for dates in this era, but often stayed in and studied instead. It worked: She successfully completed nursing school and later went to Boston University for her master’s.
There, she met Dr. Weir. “She was full of energy. Full of fun and inquisitive. She was curious about everything,” she says. Dr. Weir was already employed by McMaster and convinced her friend to apply for a job there.
That 1971 interview proved important in many ways. Not only was Gina offered a job, but the McMaster team asked Joseph Browne, whom everyone called Jay, to drive her back to the airport.
He hailed from Ashland, Ky., and had been an ordained priest for 13 years before becoming a social worker, and was at the time a psychiatry professor at McMaster. She moved to Canada and the couple were soon engaged and married in 1974 during the 100th anniversary edition of the Kentucky Derby.
The pair did their PhDs together at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and bought a tiny log cabin in Burlington – everyone thought they were nuts – and over the years added onto it. The couple eventually had two boys, Joe and Dillon.
At work, Gina built a busy research program that resulted in numerous published reports and book chapters. She studied a variety of subjects, including the impacts of therapy on depression, and mental health programs for children. Pivotal reports included a retrospective of 10 years of research into the impacts of addressing the needs of vulnerable populations, which was published in the 40th anniversary edition of the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research.
Her work garnered numerous awards, including the National Award for Excellence in Nursing in 2005, an honorary doctor of laws from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) in 2009, the Champion of Human Services Award from the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association in 2010, the Excellence through Evidence Award from the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement in 2013. She was inducted into the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences Community of Distinction in 2019.
At home, the family’s log cabin became a social hub. Every Kentucky Derby, the Brownes held a huge party, with Gina cooking a vast meal of deep-fried chicken livers wrapped in bacon, plus other southern delights, while Jay mixed up Mint Juleps. They often hosted salon-style parties, with guests reciting poetry and singing songs.
Gina was an accomplished piano player, avid reader and lover of the opera. She remained devoted to her faith throughout her life and was a parishioner at Burlington’s Holy Rosary Church. Jay died in 2013 and she retired and became professor emeritus two years later.
Friends and family members remember her as a highly intelligent, talented and giving person. “She was always generous with her time and her energy,” Dr. Weir says. “Whatever she had to share, she would.”
Dr. Browne leaves her sons and their spouses, two grandchildren, eight of her siblings and extended family.