Just when you think you have Dr. William A. Brennan figured out, he throws out another surprising fact about himself. After practicing for 10 years in a bustling practice in Polk County, Fla., the board-certified neurosurgeon decided to switch gears and try cosmetic surgery. So, he moved across the coast to the plastic surgery capital of the world – Los Angeles, Calif. – and did a fellowship. He was there just long enough to catch the movie bug, writing a feature film screenplay. Then, he decided to return to the South, where he reestablished a neurology practice.

 

His cross-country journey began as a child. As the son of a successful salesman, Brennan had lived all over the country, finally landing in Charlotte, N.C. Growing up, Brennan was always interested in science. After graduating from college, he went to Clemson University for a graduate degree in biochemistry. His specific project involved the nervous system and neurochemistry. This allowed him to brush with pre-med students and physicians. “I became interested in the application of this basic science in a practical way,” he recalled. “Research is certainly honorable, and I see the offshoots of the research that we did in the ’80s still in articles today. But, the practical application, in terms of at the end of the day, ‘did that actually help a person?’ is a lot more direct in the field of medicine.”

 

Intending to use his neurochemistry know-how to help people, Brennan enrolled in medical school at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He chose a surgical subspecialty, because “the fact that I could get up and go to work, and have somebody physically feel better by the end of the day, was really a shot in the arm for me.” For his neurosurgery residency, Brennan attended Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

 

Following his medical training, Brennan set up shop in Florida, where he practiced neurosurgery for 10 years in a rural community between Tampa and Orlando. After performing every possible neurosurgical operation, he started looking for a “sabbatical” in a new field. He chose cosmetic surgery.

 

For 12 months, Brennan did a cosmetic surgery fellowship in Los Angeles. “I wanted to see what life was like in another specialty, and put on a different hat for a year,” he said. “It kind of got back to one of my original thoughts in medical school, which was the field of psychiatry. Cosmetic surgery is a lot about the well-being and the self-image concepts of people. And, you delve into people’s personalities a lot more in cosmetic surgery than you do in neurosurgery.”

 

After six months in cosmetic surgery, Brennan was surprised at what he found. “The predictions I got were flat wrong,” he said. “These people are not narcissistic. They are nice people that want to feel better about themselves. It was a whole different way of ending the day and having somebody feel better.”

 

But, at the end of a year, he felt that he had not really made the type of impact on somebody’s life that he had in neurosurgery. “Helping someone achieve a better self-image is a completely different feeling than getting somebody to get off the couch from being in severe pain and being able to walk and having a smile on their face,” he said. So, he decided to return to neurosurgery, setting up a practice in Los Angeles near Beverly Hills. By then, he was married to Lanah, and was ready to find a place to raise a family.

 

When it came time to relocating his practice, he wisely deferred to his wife for the final selection. She chose Lafayette, La. “I have never felt so at home,” he said. “For someone who has relocated several times, this experience has been really different. I feel like in less than a year, when people ask me where I’m from, I don’t have any problem in saying, ‘Lafayette.’”

 

The couple moved to Cajun Country in January, 2009. There, Brennan set up his practice at Neurosurgical Solutions of Lafayette, L.L.C., on The Regional Medical Center of Acadiana campus. Lanah, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, set up her office at RMC’s Women’s & Children’s Hospital medical office building. “She’s taken a lot of weight off of a bunch of people,” he said proudly.

 

With Lanah, Brennan developed his true passion – writing. Over the course of a year, he wrote on a screenplay, got a “script doctor,” and entered it in a contest. Out of over 3,700 entries, the script landed in the top 100. He and his wife hope to collaborate on another project soon.

 

Brennan’s next venture is a book on faith. Every Sunday after church services, he dedicates an hour to writing a page. He hopes to finish the project within a year. “I just enjoy writing,” he said.

 

In the meantime, Brennan is focusing on his day job as a neurosurgeon. He finds that the most rewarding part of his practice “hands down, is that people are literally better before the sun goes down.”