Published on Monday, May 8, 2023

The Medical Center extends its sympathy to the family of a former faculty member in appreciation for the loved one’s contributions to the academic health sciences center.

Dr. John D. Bower

Dr. John D. Bower, whose pioneering work in renal care and dialysis helped saved countless lives when a kidney disease diagnosis was practically a death sentence, died on May 1, 2023. He was 91.

Bower joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1965 as an instructor in medicine; by 1990, he had become chief of the Division of Nephrology. His legacy at the institution includes endowed chairs in nephrology and population health nursing. They are just a couple of the many prestigious honors, institutions or gifts that have borrowed his name and prestige.

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs, said Bower was a great friend and supporter of the Medical Center, and he made a tremendous impact on health care in the state. 

“Dr. Bower spent his life advocating for the needs of Mississippians. He and his daughter, Anne Bower Travis, worked tirelessly on behalf of our state’s citizens to make sure current and future generations had the resources necessary to lead healthier lives. We should all follow Dr. Bower’s powerful example and honor his memory by continuing to work toward improving the health of Mississippians.”

A memorial honoring Bower is set for 10 a.m. Monday, May 22, in the Student Union.

Born on Nov. 14, 1931 in Westfield, Massachusetts, Bower grew up in Virginia. He served four years in the U.S. Navy before entering the University of Lynchburg, where he graduated in 1957 after only 30 months. Years later, his alma mater would establish the John D. Bower Veterans Scholarship Fund for veterans to pursue degrees in science.

In 1961, Bower, received his medical degree from what is now the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, which would later establish the John D. Bower, M.D., endowed Chair in Physiology.  

In a 2010 interview with “The Power of Personal Philanthropy,” a VCU publication, Bower said he knew as a third-year medical student that he wanted to hitch his wagon to the star that is academic medicine. “I wanted to be a teacher,” he said, “and I wanted to understand the mechanisms of diseases.”

As a medical student, he worked as a research assistant in a physiology lab. Upon graduation, he did an internship at the University of Virginia before returning to MCV for his residency and a nephrology fellowship. For two years, he worked in the college’s Kidney Transplant Research Program. Not long after he and his mentor, Dr. David Hume, had established an artificial kidney unit, Bower was on his way to Mississippi.

At UMMC, Bower did hypertension research with Medical Center legend Dr. Arthur Guyton, but soon migrated to renal research because of the demand for artificial kidney services.

A passionate patient advocate, Bower was instrumental in starting the state’s first dialysis unit, in 1966 at UMMC. Because many patients could not afford this life-saving treatment, he and a handful of other doctors testified before Congress, successfully arguing for extending Medicare coverage to patients with end-stage renal disease.

That led to a demand that eclipsed the number of existing units. In response, Bower and his staff ensured that dialysis became much more accessible to patients statewide and beyond by founding Kidney Care Inc.; it created dialysis facilities and services within easy driving distance for any patient. Over the years, the number of kidney units swelled to more than 20 cities in three states.

At one time, Kidney Care alone served more than 2,000 people in Mississippi, or half of those needing dialysis.

Proceeds from his work with dialysis programs eventually funded the creation of what is now the Bower Foundation.

In 2017, UMMC’s Translational Research Center became the home of the Medical Center’s newest seat of learning: the John D. Bower School of Population Health, only the third school of its kind in the country. Its current dean is Dr. Thomas Dobbs.

“Dr. Bower was a powerful force for positive change, not only through his medical career but also through his charitable foundation,” said Dobbs, a professor in the departments of health administration, infectious diseases, and population health science.

“He will be greatly missed.”

Bower’s dedication to public health was reflected by a $3.8 million grant from the Bower Foundation to fund graduate education for 64 registered nurses through the RN-to-MSN program at the UMMC School of Nursing. The program, “Building a Strong Future for Nursing in Mississippi,” seeks to increase the number of nursing educators and, in turn, boost the number of nurses in Mississippi.

“Mississippi and access to health care were close to Dr. Bower’s heart,” said Dr. Julie Sanford, dean of the School of Nursing. “His legacy will be one of care and compassion, lived out through the care of countless patients.”

Over the years, the foundation has supported a variety of other programs on the University of Mississippi’s Jackson and Oxford campuses, including initiatives for research, education, health care and telemedicine. It gave life to the UMMC Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities which administers, among other things, the Retired Doctors Breakfast, aka, Breakfast with Bower.

Created in 2011 with a $1 million gift from the Bower Foundation, the Retired Doctors Breakfast was Bower’s idea, inspired by the loneliness of a friend.

“He was a PhD and he was totally committed to the Medical Center,” Bower said a few years ago. “It was all he had, all he knew. And then he retired, and when someone put a lock on his old office door, he didn’t have a place to come to anymore.”

Almost 20 years later, the group still meets and is growing, said Dr. Ralph Didlake, director of the Center for Bioethics. “He established the breakfast group as a small way to help keep retirees intellectually engaged and in contact with the Medical Center. He donated money to keep it operating. I am pretty sure it is the only endowed breakfast in the state.”

During his own retirement, though, Bower had plenty of places to go – often to accept another award or accolade. For his work with kidney patients, he received UMMC’s first-ever Vanguard Award, in 2006, the year he was also awarded the Hope Award for Outstanding Community Service.

In August 2017, he was inducted into the University of Mississippi Medical Alumni Chapter Hall of Fame. “The No. 1 thing in my life,” he said during his acceptance speech, “has always been the patients.”