Marie Jeanette Johnson Cowan (July 20, 1938 – February 22, 2008) was an American nurse and academic who conducted cardiovascular research. A faculty member at

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

and the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, Cowan was hired as the nursing school dean at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1997. She was a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing.

Biography

Cowan was born in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, in 1938. She went to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

through an exchange program with the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, where she met a student named Samuel Cowan. In 1961, on the day after Cowan completed a diploma in nursing at Mary's Help Hospital in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, she and Samuel were married. After completing a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in physiology and biophysics, Cowan earned a Ph.D. at the University of Washington in an interdisciplinary program combining pathology, biophysics and physiology. Cowan started her academic career as a professor at Seattle University. Later, she conducted basic science and nursing science research as a professor at the University of Washington. There, she held joint appointments in the nursing school and in the medical school's departments of pathology and cardiology. She was continuously funded by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH) after 1977. In 1997, Cowan was hired as dean of the nursing school at UCLA. She instituted a basic sciences emphasis in the nursing Ph.D. program, and in 2006 she reestablished the school's undergraduate nursing program, which had been lost prior to her arrival at the university due to lack of funding. Cowan served on the first NIH peer review group established for nurses. In 2007, Cowan was designated a Living Legend of the

American Academy of Nursing The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) is a professional organization that generates, synthesizes, and disseminates nursing knowledge to contribute to health policy and practice for the benefit of the public and the nursing profession. Founded in ...

. She died in 2008 after suffering from

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

for ten years. She had been married to Samuel Cowan since 1961. The

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...

's Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing presents the Marie Cowan Promising Young Investigator Award to honor early-career researchers in the field.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Marie 1938 births 2008 deaths People from Albuquerque, New Mexico University of Washington alumni University of Washington faculty Seattle University faculty UCLA School of Nursing faculty