Experience
Mary Bowman (they/them) has been providing transgender-inclusive care for over 10 years as a nurse practitioner specialized in sexual and reproductive health. Their clinical skill set spans preventative and primary care, STI and HIV prevention and treatment, contraception and abortion, gender-affirming hormone therapy, trauma-informed care and harm reduction.
Mary’s healthcare career began at the legendary feminist health collective, Chicago Women’s Health Center, where they were a part of the inaugural nurse practitioner team that launched the primary care program. They then became the first Clinical Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health at Howard Brown Health, the largest LGBTQ health center in the Midwest. In 2020, Dr. Bowman once again broke new ground as the first Program Director of Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy at Planned Parenthood of Illinois, supporting 17 clinic sites across the state. They pioneered innovative access strategies as a national telehealth provider for queer & trans health at FOLX, and are now a clinician at Choix, the first all-remote telehealth abortion service in U.S. history.
Creating and Implementing New Programs
Dr. Bowman excels at new program creation, training and implementation, as evidenced by their career of numerous firsts.
Education and Licensure
Mary has their Doctorate in Nursing Practice from DePaul University where they studied the lived experience of transgender people with eating disorders, and their Master’s of Science in Nursing from University of Illinois at Chicago. They are a board-certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner with multi-state licensure (CA, CO, CT, IL, MD, MI, NJ) and certification as an HIV Specialist (American Academy of HIV Medicine), and a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.
Current Projects
Current consulting projects include the development of gender identity and transgender clinical hormone management training to be implemented nationally as mandatory all-staff training at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the creation of clinical guidelines to institute gender-affirming hormone therapy provision in the context of residential eating disorder treatment with the Center for Discovery. They’ve been an invited speaker at the Chicago Public Library, Chicago Community Colleges, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago, and DePaul University.