John Pierce Brownlee Jr., CRNA

John graduated from nursing school in 1969 and began his healthcare career in general floor nursing before serving two years in the U.S. Army at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. Following his military service, he returned to clinical practice in intensive care nursing before pursuing nurse anesthesia training from 1975 to 1977 at Norfolk General Hospital and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. After completing his training, he practiced nurse anesthesia in Oregon, Tennessee, Kentucky, Idaho, and Washington, building a broad clinical background in both urban and rural healthcare settings.

In addition to his anesthesia practice, he earned a Juris Doctor (jurisprudence doctor’s degree) from Nashville School of Law in 1996, driven by his interest in healthcare law, asset protection for independent practitioners, American history, and constitutional law. He went on to serve as an academic instructor at the Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia for Nurses from 1997 to 2001, training future nurse anesthetists. He also worked with malpractice law firms across Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan as a chart expert and expert witness, contributing clinical insight to medical-legal cases.

Later in his career, he continued practicing anesthesia as an independent provider in Idaho and Washington until his retirement approximately 12 years ago. Beyond clinical work, he and his wife operated CountryHomesteadLiving.com from 2016 to 2025, helping individuals and families transition to rural homesteading across the United States. Now semi-retired, he lives on a small homestead with his wife of more than four decades and remains active in his community by supporting local healthcare education alongside a semi-retired physician.

• Nashville School of Law - J.D.

• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)

• American Association of Nurse Anesthetists
• American Society of Regional Anesthesia