Alumnus DuBois Bowman selected as University of Michigan’s dean of public health
July 20, 2018
F. DuBois Bowman, PhD, an alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been named dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, effective Oct. 15.
Dr. DuBois Bowman
Bowman, whose doctorate is in biostatistics, is a distinguished scholar whose research has focused upon improving mental health and neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
Currently, he serves as Cynthia and Robert Citrone-Roslyn and Leslie Goldstein Professor of Biostatistics and chair at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Under his leadership, the department expanded and refined its education programs, increased grant revenue and made significant gains in philanthropy. He also is a member of the executive committee of the Columbia University Data Science Institute.
Bowman began his academic career as an assistant professor of biostatistics in Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. As he rose through the ranks at Emory, becoming a professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics in 2013, he was also a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University in 2000 and a visiting assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in 2005.
From 2007 to 2013, he was founding director of the Rollins School’s Center for Biomedical Imaging Statistics, the first center of its kind internationally. He served as president of the Eastern North American Region (ENAR) of the International Biometric Society and is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association.
Bowman’s research has helped to reveal brain patterns that reflect disruption from psychiatric diseases and detect biomarkers for neurological diseases. His research seeks to determine threats to brain health from environmental exposures, to determine more individualized therapeutic treatments, and to optimize brain health in aging populations.
As a principal investigator, he has received seven National Institutes of Health grants and is co-investigator for a number of other federal grants. Recently, he led research under the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s Parkinson’s Disease Biomarker Program, which may have major implications for early detection of Parkinson’s disease and for forecasting disease progression. He also has been an integral collaborator on an international research project led by the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
“Professor Bowman has a clear vision for public health – robust research, innovative interdisciplinary problem-solving and immersive education for the next generation of practitioners,” said Martin A. Philbert, PhD, provost at the University of Michigan, who formerly served as the University of Michigan’s public health dean. “We look forward to the many ways in which his leadership will enrich the school, the university, and work in public health around the world.”
Michael R. Kosorok, PhD, W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor and chair of biostatistics at the Gillings School and professor of statistics and operations research in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, is among many at UNC who have followed Bowman’s career trajectory with interest and pride.
“We are thrilled that Dr. Bowman has been selected as Michigan’s dean of public health,” said Kosorok. “ He has been an excellent chair and scholar in public health and will continue to lead with great positivity and foresight.”
Bowman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1992 from Morehouse College, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He earned a Master of Science degree in biostatistics from the University of Michigan in 1995 and his doctorate in biostatistics from the UNC Gillings School in 2000.
Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.
