Dr. John D. Bower

Renowned physician reconnects through endowed chair gift

Dr. John D. Bower (M.D. ’61/M), a nephrologist originally from Bedford, Va., has a history of providing much-needed funding to ensure that health care professionals are receiving a high-quality education.

At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he is professor emeritus of medicine, Bower has established endowed chairs in nephrology, pediatrics and nursing.

He recently extended his philanthropy to his alma mater by funding an endowed chair of physiology at Virginia Commonwealth University.

VCU School of Medicine Dean Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D., says that on the national front, academic interest in physiology has suffered a decline in recent years, but Bower’s gift will spur a revival of its study at VCU.

To Bower, physiology is one of the most basic facets of medicine and one of the most significant.

“In order to understand how disease affects a living organism, you’ve got to understand how the living organism functions,” he said. “How a disease modifies the function of an organism is where it’s essential to have an understanding of the physiology and the chemistry of the organism that’s infected. It’s … a question of understanding.”

With the establishment of this endowed chair, the VCU Department of Physiology and Biophysics attracted Diomedes Logothetis, Ph.D., a leader in his field, from Mount Sinai University in New York as the new head of the department. Logothetis’ research is aimed at understanding the molecular functioning of ion channels.

Logothetis says he was initially drawn to the university when a respected colleague from Mount Sinai who had already come to teach at VCU told him about the school and Strauss’ vision for the future.

The endowed chair provides funding that Logothetis can use to support research, faculty salaries or equipment costs — whatever is needed. More importantly, though, Logothetis says being named the John D. Bower, M.D., Chair in Physiology makes a statement about his worth to the university.
“It gives a sense of how you’re valued as a leader coming in to the institution,” he said.

Bower’s hope is that with the money he has donated, Logothetis can make important and necessary improvements in the department. Logothetis’ hopes for the department are in line with Bower’s wishes.

So what are Logothetis’ plans?

“To make it the No. 1 physiology department in the country,” he said.

To make a gift to the School of Medicine, contact Tom Holland, associate dean of development, at (800) 332-8813 or tehollan@vcu.edu.

Passion for medicine, teaching shapes physician’s career path

After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, Bower returned to Lynchburg College where he graduated in 1957 after only two and a half years. He graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1961. As a third-year medical student, Bower says, he knew he wanted to go into academic medicine.

“I did not want to be a surgeon; I did not want to be an OB/GYN doctor. I wanted to be a teacher, and I wanted to understand the mechanisms of disease,” he said.

During his education, Bower worked as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Robert Ramsey, a professor of physiology. After an internship at the University of Virginia, Bower returned to MCV for his residency and a fellowship in nephrology.

Bower worked for two years during his training with Dr. David Hume in the Kidney Transplant Research Program, funded by the National Institutes of Health.

“He was the one who really sort of set my career and attitude adjustment. …David was just such an inspiration,” Bower said.

Hume recognized the need for an artificial kidney to support the transplant program. He sent Bower to train under Dr. Belding H. Scribner at the University of Washington. Bower and Hume then established the artificial kidney unit to support the transplant program at MCV.

A medicine department restructuring plan at MCV gave Bower the opportunity to go to Mississippi to do research in high blood pressure with Dr. Arthur Guyton. The demand for artificial kidney services redirected his research, and he established Kidney Care, a nonprofit organization that grew to 23 kidney units in three states. Kidney Care later merged with five other programs to form the Renal Care Group. Proceeds from the merger started the Kidney Care Foundation, later named the Bower Foundation.