A Legacy of Editorial Excellence: Honoring Dr. Marjorie Bowman

After 22 years of transformative leadership, Marjorie A. Bowman, MD, MPA, has transitioned to the role of Editor Emerita of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine (JABFM), bringing to a close one of the most consequential editorial tenures in the publication’s history. In her place, Dean Seehusen, MD, MPH, a trusted member of the editorial team since 2007, has assumed the role of Editor in Chief.

Dr. Bowman’s path to JABFM was shaped by a lifelong commitment to advancing the scholarship of family medicine. In a recent conversation with ABFM Senior Vice President for Diplomate Experience Gary LeRoy, MD, she reflected on an editorial identity that began long before she stepped into the role.

“I tried to start a journal with Dr. Ed Shahady when I was a resident,” she recalled, “because I was doing research and I was like, wow, there’s not like enough out there.”

That early ambition planted the seeds for what would become a defining career.  Dr. Bowman took the helm at JABFM in 2003, succeeding the widely admired Dr. G. Gayle Stephens, a founder of the specialty of family medicine. She was clear-eyed about the challenge of following a figure of his stature.

“I could be me, which is to encourage readership, to get papers in that would be important for family physicians”

“I knew I couldn’t be Dr. Stephens,” she said. “I could be me, which is to encourage readership, to get papers in that would be important for family physicians, and to help massage papers along the way to get them to where we most wanted them to be for the readers.”

That practical, reader-centered philosophy would define her tenure.  Over the course of 22 years and more than 5,000 submitted manuscripts, Dr. Bowman shaped JABFM into a trusted and timely resource for family physicians across the country. Central to that mission was the journal’s commitment to open access.

“Family docs aren’t a rich group,” she noted, explaining why free access to the journal has always mattered. The model also means that authors are not required to pay to publish, a principle she views as essential to keeping the journal inclusive and internationally accessible.

One of Dr. Bowman’s most significant contributions was building the editorial team around her. She identified Dr. Seehusen as a natural fit for the journal years before formally bringing him on, and she later added Christine Ledford to lead qualitative content.

“We had Christine Ledford, Dean Seehusen, and I as the main group,” she explained, “all of whom brought different aspects to the situation, different ways of looking at things, different knowledge bases, different networks.”

That collaborative culture, she emphasized, was inseparable from the journal’s quality. Editorial decisions were never made in isolation. Each week, the full editorial team reviewed incoming manuscripts together, discussing which papers merited review and which did not meet the journal’s standards.

That same spirit of collaboration extended to peer review. Dr. Bowman took the opportunity to encourage family physicians who have not yet done so to sign up as reviewers at jabfm.org.

“We need reviewers who understand the field and who live it day to day,” she said, “because we want the journal to be the best for the people who are doing family medicine day to day.”

“I believe so much in the family, in family medicine”

As she looks ahead, Dr. Bowman remains deeply engaged with the questions that have animated her career. She has spoken of a possible book exploring the influence of family dynamics on clinical care, a subject she believes deserves far more attention in the published literature.

“I believe so much in the family, in family medicine,” she said, describing how the knowledge family physicians carry about their patients often makes a decisive difference in the exam room.

In addition to her work as JABFM Editor, she is a former board member and chair of the ABFM Board of Directors and currently serves on the ABFM Foundation Board of Directors, where she sees a significant opportunity to further strengthen the specialty she has championed for decades.

Dr. Bowman’s successor brings deep roots in the journal’s work. Dr. Seehusen joined the editorial team in 2007 and has been a central figure in shaping the journal’s direction for nearly two decades. Under his leadership, JABFM will move to a continuous publishing model, expand its editorial expertise, and pursue new opportunities to bring timely, clinically relevant research to family physicians.

ABFM President and CEO Warren Newton, MD, MPH, offered his appreciation for both the outgoing and incoming editors:

“We are grateful for Dr. Bowman’s remarkable service and look forward to the future of JABFM under Dr. Seehusen’s leadership.”

For Dr. Bowman, the work was never purely academic. It was, at its core, about family physicians and the patients they serve.

“Family medicine is the best specialty,” she said in closing. “We have the most chance to make the biggest difference. And we need to keep fighting for that.”

ABFM congratulates Dr. Bowman on this well-earned next chapter and is grateful for the vision, rigor, and dedication she brought to JABFM for more than two decades. To hear Dr. Bowman reflect on her career in her own words, listen to the full interview with Dr. Gary LeRoy here or watch it via Youtube here.

“Family medicine is the best specialty. We have the most chance to make the biggest difference. And we need to keep fighting for that.”

-Dr. Marjorie Bowman