Marci Lee Bowers (born January 18, 1958) is an American
gynecologist
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...
and surgeon who specializes in
gender confirmation surgeries. Bowers is viewed as an innovator in gender confirmation/affirmation surgery, and is the first
transgender woman to perform such surgeries.
[ ]
Bowers operates at
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center
Sutter Health Mills-Peninsula Medical Center (MPMC) is a 241-bed, not-for-profit general medical and surgical located in Burlingame, California. In addition to emergency and ICU services, MPMC offers both inpatient and outpatient services at its ...
in
Burlingame,
California, and
San Mateo Surgery Center in
San Mateo, California. From 2003 to 2010, she practiced in the town of
Trinidad, Colorado, where she apprenticed under
Stanley Biber, a pioneer in
sex reassignment surgery, before going solo in July 2003.
Bowers is also an international expert on functional
clitoral restoration after
female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...
and cutting. She was chosen in 2007-2009 to mentor under
Pierre Foldès
The French surgeon, of Hungarian origin, Pierre Foldès (6 May 1951, Paris) is the inventor, in collaboration with the urologist Jean-Antoine Robein, of a clitoral restoration surgery technique to repair the damage caused by female genital mutila ...
, pioneer of clitoral restoration surgery.
She has spoken about her practice and other transgender topics in several documentaries, interviews, news reports, and articles. Media appearances have included ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show'' (2007), ''
The Tyra Banks Show'' (5 episodes), ''
The Today Show, Matt Walsh’s “What is a Woman?”,'' and ''
CBS Sunday Morning'' feature. She is also the featured surgeon in the six-part 2006-2007 television series ''Sex Change Hospital''. In May 2020, ''
The Times'' featured Bowers on their Science Power List.
Early life
Bowers was born in
Oak Park, Illinois, and grew up in
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, as one of four siblings. At the age of 19, she hitchhiked to
San Diego intending to begin her gender transition, but was unable to afford surgeries. She was briefly a member of the
Unification Church, which she later described as a "cult".
Bowers subsequently returned to Wisconsin and enrolled in college. She went on to attend the
University of Minnesota Medical School where she was the class and student body president.
After an
ob/gyn residency at the
University of Washington, she continued in Seattle as an obstetrician and gynecologist at
The Polyclinic
The Polyclinic is a group of health care facilities in Seattle, Washington. It has over 14 locations and 200 primary care and specialty physicians in most areas of medicine. On-site services are available at several locations, including laborator ...
and
Swedish Medical Center.
Career
Before moving to Trinidad, Bowers practiced
obstetrics and gynecology
Obstetrics and Gynaecology (also spelled as Obstetrics and Gynecology; abbreviated as Obs and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and t ...
at the
PolyClinic/
Swedish Medical Center in
Seattle. In her 20 years practicing obstetrics, she delivered more than 2000 babies.
She has served as Obstetrics and Gynecology Department Chairperson at Swedish (Providence) Medical Center, and was named the only physician member of the Washington State
midwifery board. She is a member-elect of the
European Academy of Sciences
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
.
When
Stanley Biber retired in 2003 at the age of 80, Bowers took over his practice, and since then, has done more than 2000 genital reassignment surgeries, performing as many as 12 gender affirming surgeries weekly. While performing surgery in Trinidad, Bowers estimated revenue at US$1.6 million per year to the hospital.
In 2010, she relocated to the
San Francisco Bay Area and continues to practice in Burlingame, California. She has also helped initiate transgender surgical education programs at
Sheba Medical Center in
Tel Aviv (2014),
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City. It is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, which manages eight ...
in New York (2016),
Denver Health
Denver Health Medical Center, formerly named Denver General Hospital, is a hospital in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, founded in 1860. It is one of five Level I Trauma Centers in Colorado. Denver Health Medical Center is one of the ...
in Colorado (2018), and
University of Toronto (2019). The transgender surgical fellowship at Mount Sinai is acknowledged as the first of its kind in the United States.
In 2018 and 2019, Bowers performed the first live surgical
vaginoplasty surgeries in surgical educational programs sponsored by the
World Professional Association for Transgender Health
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity and g ...
(WPATH)
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Bowers is an elected board member of WPATH and has served on the board of directors for both
GLAAD
GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...
and the
Transgender Law Center.
Bowers is the first U.S. surgeon to perform
clitoral restoration surgery
The clitoris ( or ) is a female sex organ present in mammals, ostriches and a limited number of other animals. In humans, the visible portion – the glans – is at the front junction of the labia minora (inner lips), above the ope ...
for survivors of
female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...
, whom she does not charge for surgery. She was trained for this specific operation under
Pierre Foldès
The French surgeon, of Hungarian origin, Pierre Foldès (6 May 1951, Paris) is the inventor, in collaboration with the urologist Jean-Antoine Robein, of a clitoral restoration surgery technique to repair the damage caused by female genital mutila ...
and has now performed more than 500 clitoral restorations at her clinic in San Mateo.
She has led medical missions to
Burkina Faso (2014),
Nairobi,
Kenya (2017 and 2019). Working with local plastic surgeon, Abdullahi Adan, and others, this specific surgical venue is a first for Africa after the failed opening of the Pleasure Hospital in Bobo-Dioulasso.
Media appearances
Bowers' first known television appearance was a role in "
Ch-ch-ch-changes" (2004), a season 5 episode of ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...
'' that focused on transgender issues. She also served as a production consultant for the episode.
She appeared briefly in the 2005 documentary-series ''
TransGeneration
''TransGeneration'' is a US documentary-style reality television series that affords a view into the lives of four transgender college students during the 2004–2005 academic year. Two of the students are trans women, and two are trans men ...
'', produced by
World of Wonder; soon after, World of Wonder turned their attention to Bowers herself and her practice, in their 2007
documentary series ''
Sex Change Hospital
''Sex Change Hospital'' is an American documentary-style reality television series about 12 transgender people who have sex reassignment surgery at the Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colorado, under the care of OB/GYN Marci Bowers. The p ...
''—a six-episode series that follows 12 patients before, during, and after surgery.
''Sex Change Hospital'' premiered on
More4,
and was rebroadcast on
E4 in the UK and
WE tv in the US. She and her practice were also the focus of ''
Trinidad'' (2009), an independent documentary directed by
PJ Raval and Jay Hodges. The filmmakers examine the success of Dr. Bowers' practice, and the transgender people who travel to the town of Trinidad, Colorado for sex reassignment surgery. The film premiered in the US on the
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
channel.
Bowers appears as herself in the
television documentary ''
Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric'' (2017), and in the
reality series ''
I Am Jazz'' from 2016 to 2018 (seasons 3 through 6). She has been a guest on US talk shows including ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show''
and ''
The Tyra Banks Show.''
She has been interviewed for several publications.
She is the author of at least five book chapters in surgical textbooks.
In 2020, Bowers made an appearance in the HBO documentary
Transhood, where she performed 19-year-old Leena's gender confirmation surgery.
In 2022, Bowers appeared in ''
The Daily Wire
''The Daily Wire'' is an American conservative news website and media company founded in 2015 by political commentator Ben Shapiro and film director Jeremy Boreing. The company is a major publisher on Facebook, and produces podcasts such as ' ...
'' documentary ''
What Is a Woman?''.
In an interview with journalist and author
Abigail Shrier
''Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters'' is a 2020 book by Abigail Shrier, published by Regnery Publishing, which endorses the controversial concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). ROGD is not recognized as ...
, Bowers expressed some concern over early suppression of puberty. Talking to
Emily Bazelon of
''The New York Times'' ''Magazine'' in June 2022, Bowers distanced herself from others interviewed by Shrier, stating: "The most important thing is access to care, and that is a much bigger problem than the issue of how the medical community and transition is failing people."
Opposition
In 2005, Terry Keith, a pastor for the All Nations Fellowship church in Trinidad, told ''
The Pueblo Chieftain
The ''Pueblo Chieftain'' is an American daily newspaper published in Pueblo, Colorado.
The ''Chieftain'' was established in 1868 by Dr. Michael Beshoar, the first doctor in Trinidad, Colorado. Wilbur Fisk Stone and George A. Hinsdale were the fi ...
'' "Our reputation as sex-change capital of the world has brought shame and reproach on the community."
That same year, two pastors circulated a petition for the closure of the clinic. They cited a
Johns Hopkins University study that they claimed was proof that gender confirmation surgeries were an ineffective treatment for gender dysphoria.
The petition was rejected.
Bowers said that the church misrepresented the study data: "If you look at the actual study itself, the satisfaction rates and happiness rates after
urgerieswere overwhelmingly positive, their interpretation of the study was that the respondents—the patients themselves—couldn't possibly be accurate about what they were feeling, because they were crazy in the first place. There's been nothing like it since—and it's very important to point out that it's from 1972."
After Pierre Foldès's study in ''Lancet'' (February 2012), his results were met with skepticism from British gynecologists who wrote a rebuttal to his findings, questioning his methods and outcomes. Bowers is conducting ongoing studies using standard measures of female sexual function to definitively affirm Foldès's conclusions, but as Bowers has stated, "There is no happier text that I receive at three in the morning than someone stating they have had their first orgasm in their life."
Personal life
Bowers and her wife have three children.
[
]
See also
* LGBT people in science
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, Marci
1958 births
Living people
American gynecologists
American surgeons
LGBT people from Illinois
People from Trinidad, Colorado
Surgeons specializing in transgender medicine
LGBT physicians
Transgender women
University of Minnesota Medical School alumni
LGBT media personalities
Women surgeons
People from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Former Unificationists