MARCH 7, 2019 – American Bone Health is proud to welcome Dr. Joan McGowan as a new member of its Medical and Scientific Advisory Board. McGowan, who retired in 2018 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will join other experts on the board in advising American Bone Health, a nonprofit educational organization, on the latest in relevant science and research.
“Joan is a legend in the bone health field, and her wealth of knowledge will be a valuable asset for American Bone Health,” said Kathleen Cody, Executive Director of American Bone Health. “Our expert Medical and Scientific Advisory Board helps ensure that we provide up-to-the-minute evidence-based information to help people build and maintain strong, healthy bones for life.”
Before her retirement last year, McGowan served for 10 years as Director of the Division of Musculoskeletal Diseases at the NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. She had served previously as Program Director for Bone Biology and Bone Diseases.
Before joining NIH, McGowan was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. She received training at Cornell (M.S.) and Brown University (Ph.D.).
Dr. McGowan was very active in osteoporosis and women’s health activities at NIH including serving as the NIH liaison to the National Bone Health Alliance and the U.S. Bone and Joint Initiative. She co-chaired the Federal Working Group on Bone Diseases and was the NIH organizer of a Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake in 1994 and one on Osteoporosis held in 2000. She was also the Senior Scientific Editor of Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General. In 2011, she received the ASBMR Shirley Hohl Service Award and in 2018 the President’s Special Recognition Award.
