Research group recognizes Boonshoft School of Medicine professor with award

Marjorie Bowman, professor of family medicine and professor of population and public health.

The North American Primary Care Research Group has named a Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine professor one of two recipients of its Distinguished Research Mentor Award.

The research group, a multidisciplinary organization for primary care researchers, will recognize Marjorie Bowman, M.D., professor of family medicine and professor of population and public health, with the award on Nov. 10 during its annual meeting in Chicago. The Distinguished Research Mentor Award acknowledges outstanding mentorship of a North American Primary Care Research Group member over the course of his or her career.

“This is very exciting. The nomination was by four of my former fellows who have had highly successful research careers, which makes it feel extra special,” Bowman said. “Their amazing work is actually why I received this award.”

Ian Bennett, professor, Department of Family Medicine (Research Division) and Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, adjunct professor, Department of Global Health, University of Washington, was one of the four former fellows who nominated her.

“Dr. Bowman’s vision that research is required for the betterment of family medicine and public health has driven her storied career and supported the successful careers of many in the field,” he said. “I was the personal beneficiary of her support and career guidance, which was invaluable to me as I developed a productive physician-researcher career that brings the perspective of primary care to the health sciences here in the United States and globally.”

Bowman’s first opportunity to become a research mentor came with her first full-time faculty position at Georgetown University. She mentored students, who worked on her research. Then, at Wake Forest University, where she was a department chair, she started a research fellowship and mentored other family physicians.

She started a second family medicine research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and is now leading a new Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Primary Care Transformation Fellowship at Wright State.

“Research by family physicians is so important to the medical care we can provide, and thus overall health,” Bowman said. “The entire process of research enlightens a physician’s understanding of what we do and do not know.”

Bowman also has been involved in editing medical journals. “Editing and mentoring are intertwined,” she said. “Editing has allowed me to mentor in a different way, through the process of improving some submissions and rejecting others with feedback.”

In addition, Bowman is involved with day-to-day research mentoring. She attends student and resident research presentation meetings, including national and international meetings. She asks the students and residents questions, provides suggestions and ideas and meets with them, if possible, to review their plans or thoughts.