As a psychiatrist, Dr. Malcolm Bowen treated troubled minds but also touched hearts.
“Patients loved Malcolm. Whatever their condition, they all felt comfortable in his presence, thanks to his quick wit and easy charm,” said Dr. Joseph Bona of Sandy Springs, Bowen’s successor as chief medical officer of DeKalb County’s Community Service Board.
“Malcolm had a gift for engaging with all kinds of clients, reaching even the more challenging ones with his warmth and kindness,” said Marnie Flynn of Dunwoody, a psychologist and site director at the board’s North DeKalb mental health center.
He also was universally popular with his staff, said Dr. Mridula Puri of Atlanta, a child psychiatrist at the board’s Winn Way center. “He didn’t flaunt his career accomplishments, and led us staff members in a friendly, collegial way,” she said.
His affable, relaxed manner aside, Bowen was a serious physician, Bona said.
In 1996, Bowen was an advocate for prescribing two new drugs, Risperdal and Olanzapine, for treating symptoms of schizophrenia, At the time, state Medicaid officials ruled doctors had to fail twice with more familiar, cheaper medications before they could try new ones. Bowen and other psychiatrists argued the new drugs were cost-effective despite their higher cost, and eventually state officials eased the rule.
“Malcolm was a voice of reason,” Bona said. “What he pointed out then is what mental health caregivers are finding is true today. Malcolm realized intuitively that expensive drugs that treat symptoms without harmful side-effects and keep patients from being hospitalized are a smart option in the long run.”
Malcolm Garry Bowen, 73, died Jan. 13 at his Decatur home of liver cancer. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Petite Auberge restaurant, 2935 N. Druid Hills Road, Atlanta. He was buried Friday at the Georgia National Cemetery, Canton, after a military ceremony. A.S. Turner & Sons was in charge of arrangements.
Bowen was born in Wales and was the first member of his family to earn a university degree — from the University of Birmingham (England). His wife, Susan Morris, a psychologist, said he told her he thought the struggles he had growing up helped him identify with patients who had similar experiences.
In the mid-1960s he came to America for his psychiatric residency at Yale University. Upon completion, he entered the U.S. Army and rose quickly to become chief of psychiatry at the U.S. Medical Center on Okinawa, where among other duties he treated U.S. soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the Vietnam War. His work there earned him the Army Commendation Medal for Exceptional Meritorious Service.
In 1977, Bowen came to Georgia as medical director of the Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Mental Health Center. Two years later he joined the Atlanta Veteran’s Administration Hospital staff. In 1987 he was named medical director of the DeKalb County Board of Health and remained after it transitioned into the DeKalb Community Service Board.
A naturalized U.S citizen, Bowen traveled often to the United Kingdom to visit cousins there. “To an American’s ear, Malcolm had a faint British accent,” his wife said, “but his Welsh relatives thought his speech had become thoroughly Americanized.”
Also surviving is a daughter, Alexandra “Allie” Cox of Athens.
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