On Thursday, May 22, Stephen McGowan, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, was formally presented with the 5th annual DiBona Academics in Service of ICVA Veterans Award. As part of the presentation, McGowan delivered the annual DiBona Award Lecture, “Connecting Networks in the Thorax, Fibroblast, and Among the Enslaved,” at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds.
The award’s namesake, Gerald DiBona, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, was also in attendance. Below the slideshow are comments delivered by Bradley Dixon, MD, Chief of Medicine, Iowa City VA Health Care System (ICVA), when announcing McGowan as this year’s winner.
It is with enormous pleasure that we announce that the Awards Committee has selected Stephen McGowan, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine, as the recipient of the fifth DiBona Academics in Service of ICVA Veterans Award. Dr. McGowan is a 40-year veteran staff physician with the VA and truly embodies the tenets upon which this award was predicated, a physician who primarily worked at the ICVA holding a joint academic appointment with the University of Iowa and demonstrating a sustained, outstanding commitment to clinical care, education and research in the service of veterans at the ICVA. Dr. David Stoltz in his nomination letter stated that Dr. McGowan “exemplifies all the attributes of a successful academician (Teaching, Research, and Clinical Service), and he has dedicated his career to these matters in service to our nation’s veterans.”
Dr. McGowan received his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He completed a Residency in Internal Medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY and a Fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine. He joined the University of Minnesota as Assistant Professor in 1982 but was quickly recruited to the University of Iowa in 1986. He rapidly rose through the ranks to become full professor and in 1999 assumed leadership as Section Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the ICVA, a position he held until his retirement in 2022. In 2004, Dr. McGowan also received a Master’s of Arts in Missions and Intercultural Studies from Wheaton College, IL and became the Chairperson for the Ethics Committee at the ICVA for 12 years from 2005 to 2017.
Dr. McGowan had a distinguished career in biomedical research focused on regulation of extracellular matrix remodeling in alveolar development and repair–a process central to understanding normal lung development and disease. He shared a research lab at the VA next to Dr. DiBona and Dr. Kopp and was continuously funded by the VA for the entirety of his career. His many research publications appeared regularly in highly respected journals, particularly the American Journal of Physiology. Dr. Stoltz in his letter of nomination wrote that Dr. McGowan “is one of the best-known developmental lung biologists in the world. He has committed his scientific career to understanding the lung extracellular matrix as it relates to lung development and repair. One focus has been on the lipofibroblast, of which he identified its role of in alveolar development. He has described the role of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and the platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) in lung development.” “Steve’s papers are renowned for their attention to detail, innovation, and rigor.” “When Steve shares his data with our Division annually (and at international meetings), his presentations are authoritative and enlightening.”
All of the letters of recommendation for Dr. McGowan spoke of his extraordinary dedication to caring for veterans and to the education of trainees and staff. He was the Director of the Outpatient Pulmonary Clinic, where he oversaw the training of pulmonary fellows in COC clinics, staffed residents and fellows on the inpatient medicine service and ICU, as well as staffing bronchoscopies and reading most of the VA pulmonary function tests. He cared compassionately for some of the most complicated patients, such as those with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Patients often wrote to express their gratitude for his extraordinary and genuine care. Residents and fellows raved about his lectures for their clarity and insights. Staff and trainees came to him with complex ethical questions.
Dr. Stoltz shared a tribute by Dr. Robert Cargill, Professor of Classics & Biblical Studies at the University of Iowa, given during Dr. McGowan’s retirement celebration, that he felt best summarized Dr. McGowan’s career: “… And this is why Dr. Steve McGowan, professor in pulmonary critical care and occupational medicine, who led pulmonary care at Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center for over two decades, did what he did. It was a calling, it was a service, and this is what righteous individuals do. Whether it’s caring for veterans or people in other countries on medical mission trips, choosing to reach out and to touch those individuals in need, or whether it’s his lifetime of researching, publishing, and teaching countless students here at the University of Iowa, passing on not only the science of his craft but his empathy and teaching students to show mercy to those who need it most, Dr. Steve McGowan has exemplified the characteristics we’ve discussed today found in the greatest physicians of all time, be it Hippocrates or Galen or Jesus himself. Congratulations, Dr. McGowan, on a career worthy of celebration.”
In short, Dr. McGowan is an outstanding and exemplary awardee for the fifth DiBona award. His career truly embodies the high standards exemplified by Dr. DiBona and continues the high bar set for this award.
We wish to also recognize the work of the Awards Committee, led by Dr. Diana Jalal, and the nominations of other very distinguished and deserving candidates and we look forward to recognizing the many contributions of these other deserving VA-based academic physicians with the DiBona Award in the future.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. McGowan on this well-deserved award!