Clotilde Dent Bowen (1923 - 2011) was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where she graduated from East High School in June 1940. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from The Ohio State University in 1943 and was the first African American woman to graduate from the Ohio State College of Medicine in 1947. Initially Dr. Bowen practiced pulmonology in Harlem, New York, with affiliations at three hospitals in the city. She became the first female doctor in the U.S. Army when she received her commission at the rank of Captain in 1956. Through the Veteran’s Administration she did a residency in psychiatry in Albany, New York. During her military career she served in various posts, including a 1970 tour of duty in Vietnam where Col. Bowen was the Neuro-Psychiatric Physician for the entire U.S. Army. In that role Dr. Bowen supervised 17 psychiatrists, as well as nurses and social workers, and planned programs for the Army’s race relations training and drug treatment. Another first came when Col. Bowen served as the first female commander of a U.S. Army hospital at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana. Col. Bowen retired from the U.S. Army in 1996 and continued to practice medicine until 2008.
Col. Bowen, MD married William N. Bowen in 1946. She died in Denver, Colorado.
The Col. Clotilde Dent Bowen, MD Papers (0.5 liner foot) contain biographical information and photographs documenting the military and medical career of Clotilde Dent Bowen. Photographs depict Col. Dent Bowen in fatigues when she was on duty in Vietnam, in dress uniform and her white doctor’s coat.
The collection is arranged in alphabetical order by file title followed by two larger photographs.
The collection is open to the public and is available for viewing in the Medical Heritage Center. Materials do not circulate and must be used in the supervised reading room. Restrictions, including copyright, may exist and some materials may be too fragile to photocopy or digitize. The MHC charges for duplication services, which must be performed by staff.
[Identification of item], Col. Clotilde Dent Bowen, MD Papers, SPEC.202503.DENTBOWEN, Medical Heritage Center, Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University.