Ella Bowman MD, PhD

Dr. Ella Bowman is the inaugural William A. Whitsell Endowed Professor of Geriatric Medicine and the medical director of the Inpatient Geriatric Consult Service at OHSU. She specializes in geriatric functional syndromes such as dementia and hospital-acquired delirium, complications of hospitalization in older adults, and unmet palliative care needs.

Dr. Bowman holds dual board certification in geriatrics and hospice & palliative medicine; she joined OHSU in spring 2023 after relocating from Birmingham, Alabama, where she previously was section chief of geriatric medicine at the Birmingham VA Health Care System and led that institution to become the third VA in the nation to achieve designation as an Age-Friendly Health Care System Committed to Care Excellence. As a clinician educator at heart and hospitalist by training, her practice focuses on complex care transitions, recognizing/addressing unmet palliative needs, evaluating cognitive complaints including delirium screening and prevention, and training interprofessional teams about the complex care of vulnerable elders. Dr. Bowman believes strongly in promoting interprofessional collaboration toward the higher goal of providing exemplary care to the most vulnerable adults in society, and teaching all levels of learners how to attain that goal.

Dr. Bowman is passionate about getting to know her patients at a personal level, determining what matters most to them, and using that knowledge to inform a comprehensive care plan along with their primary admitting team to optimize their recovery in a way that matches their goals and preferences. Outside of work, she loves spending time with her husband and two small rescue dogs, traveling, taking walks and hiking, and amateur photography.