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Meet Our Donors - Marjorie A. Bowman, M.D., M.P.A.

Physicians in Penn’s Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine really get to know their patients, perhaps more than in any other field of medicine. This special intimacy isn’t just a hallmark; it’s a prized value. In her philanthropic activities, Marjorie A. Bowman, M.D., M.P.A., the department chair, has extended that principle – determining needs, and meeting them – to support Penn.

Since 2001, she has created four charitable gift annuities benefiting her department.

“I believe in giving back,” says Bowman. “I feel privileged to have my job with this department. The planned gift not only satisfies my desire to give, but it also fits well in my overall financial planning.”

She has also advocated for planned giving among her colleagues, raising the subject at department meetings. Just as with her patients, she takes time to explain – and listen. “The subject can seem daunting, because some people equate it with talking about death and they’re not at the age when they’re thinking in those terms.” She finds it helps to share one’s own story.

Bowman’s story includes growing up on her family’s farm in western Pennsylvania. “Growing up poor has influenced me to sympathize with the less fortunate,” she says. She graduated summa cum laude from Pennsylvania State University and earned her M.D. degree from Thomas Jefferson Medical College.

In 1996, she came to Penn to establish the Department of Family and Community Medicine, having made a national name in the field at Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University. (She made gifts there too: “I always give to the institution where I work.”) As the first female clinical chair at Penn, Bowman has elevated the recognition of family medicine at Penn and throughout the country. “I am proud of what I have done these past nine years and I am even more proud that I can give back,” she says. “Penn is a good place to work, and I feel fortunate to be here.”

Bowman’s planned gift, with its current tax deduction and partially tax-free payments during retirement, helped her find a way to make a significant gift as well as benefit her own financial future. Her deferred charitable gift annuity is just one of many creative gift opportunities that benefit both the School of Medicine and its donors.