Actor Ned Brower traces his unique nursing journey “The Pitt” cast member speaks at 2026 PARTNERS Luncheon
Being a nurse empowered Ned Brower, MSN, RN, to say “no thank you” the first time he was approached about serving as a medical consultant for the award-winning HBO series “The Pitt.” It also gave him confidence when he later read for the role of nurse Jesse Van Horn.
“I’d been preparing for this role for seven years,” Brower told the crowd at the 2026 PARTNERS Luncheon on April 16.
Established in 1994, PARTNERS (Providing Advancement Resources To Nursing Education, Research, and Students) raises funds for nursing scholarships and faculty research at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. This year’s event broke yet another fundraising record, adding over $256,000 to the more than $5 million the organization has contributed over the years. The luncheon at River Oaks Country Club drew a crowd of 260.
The multitalented keynote speaker took a unique path to nursing, although he noted that the professions’ many and varied opportunities make each journey unique.
Brower is no stranger to Texas. He grew up in a family of health care providers in Seattle, but his mother and grandparents hailed from Dallas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in film and psychology from Southern Methodist University. There he met his wife, actress Sarah Jane Morris, who joined him at the PARTNERS luncheon.
He moved to Los Angeles after college and describes his early career as a model and actor as “one lucky break after another.” Brower began playing drums with a group of high school musicians, and after their band, Rooney, got a record deal, he spent the next dozen years recording and touring the world.
When his time with the band ended, Brower found himself in his early 30s with a mortgage and a growing family. “I needed money, I needed to raise a family, and I wanted to do something I could feel good about,” he said.
A friend at an SMU reunion inspired Brower to become an emergency medical technician. He met many emergency nurses while working as a first responder for the Los Angeles County Fire Department and went back to school to get a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of California-Los Angeles Joe C. Wen School of Nursing.
Brower told the crowd of Cizik School of Nursing supporters that a small scholarship helped him get his degree.
“Sometimes just getting a little bit of money, it might just be that extra little bump that a student needs to feel like ‘I’m wanted here. I’m needed here,’” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a full ride to be meaningful.”
Brower finished his degree and began his nursing career in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I felt like an instant hero. I’d barely been a nurse for a couple of days and people were banging pots and pans celebrating health care workers in LA every night when the sun set,” he said. “It was great. It was even better than being on ‘The Pitt’.”
However, he said the adulation seemed a little like stolen valor since he spent most of his time as a new nurse testing people for COVID-19.
“I love being a nurse because it gives me time to focus on other things I love to do,” Brower said. For example, he has continued to pursue his love for music and recently released two singles with a new band, Bloodwerk.
Through his work as an emergency nurse in Los Angeles, Brower met Joe Sachs, MD, a board-certified emergency physician who had been a screenwriter for lead actor Noah Wyle’s earlier hit medical show, “ER.” Brower turned down an offer to work as a medical consultant for “The Pitt” and instead pitched his wife for an acting role (she did play the ex-girlfriend of Wyle’s “Dr. Robby” character at the end of the series’ first season).
“I have a good job, and I wasn’t sure I could afford to leave it, but I also really wanted to act again. I’d daydream about it all the time, but the initial offer was to work as a medical advisor,” he said. Brower let the producers know he would be more interested performing as an actor in “The Pitt” than consulting, so when he was later asked to read for a part, he went for it.
Brower appreciates that the show’s producers take the medical details seriously. He provides input when he sees something that would appear inauthentic to health care providers, many of whom work in the background with an eye to realism.
“It is amazing how the show has shined a light in giving modern health care workers’ and patients’ stories such a huge platform,” said Brower, who continues to work as a nurse when not on set.
Brower closed with words of encouragement to Cizik School of Nursing students attending the event, especially the young men in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. “I tell all my young male friends who are looking for jobs that they need to get into this profession,” he said. “It’s a place for us.”
This year’s luncheon honored Joyce and Tom Standish. Mrs. Standish is a 1975 alumna of Cizik School of Nursing and has devoted more than 20 years of service to PARTNERS. Mr. Standish serves on the UTHealth Houston Development Board and the university’s Government Relations Advisory Council. They established the Joyce A. Standish, RN, Scholarship for Cizik School of Nursing students.
Serving as luncheon chairs were Carla Diaz-Lewis and Kenneth Lewis, long-time supporters of Cizik School of Nursing. The couple endowed the annual Carla Diaz-Lewis Domestic Violence Lecture Series, which features thought-provoking presentations from health care scientists and clinicians on topics ranging from dating violence to elder mistreatment. Mr. Lewis is also a member of the UTHealth Houston Development Board, and both he and Mr. Standish previously served on the Cizik School of Nursing Advisory Council.
Other notable guests at the luncheon included UTHealth Houston President Melina Kibbe, MD, as well as Jane Cizik, her daughter-in-law Melanie Cizik, and her granddaughter Cameron, a registered nurse. The school was named for Jane Cizik and her late husband, Robert, in appreciation of a $25 million foundational endowment in 2017. Bishop Italo Dell’Oro delivered the invocation, and Houston Public Media’s Ernie Manouse served as emcee.
View the Flickr album from the event.
Sherri Deatherage Green
