From poor health to lifestyle medicine leader  

ACLM Fellow Dr. David Bowman experienced the power of lifestyle medicine in his own life and now runs the first lifestyle medicine clinic at Howard University. 

For years, David Bowman, MD, DipABLM, FACLM, battled a host of health problems. He suffered from backaches and foot pain, and he would get tired after eating. He was living on laxatives due to chronic constipation, his asthma was getting worse, and he had constant allergies. He had gained weight while eating candy, fried foods, pizza and the like. He had reflux and frequent abdominal pain, and he once missed a plane connection for a job interview because he was in the bathroom for so long.  

The doctor who trained and practiced as a pediatrician embarked on a commitment to lifestyle behavior change that transformed his health and how he practiced medicine. Dr. Bowman is in the planning stage of the first-ever lifestyle medicine clinic at the Howard University College of Medicine, where he serves as assistant dean of Student Health and Wellness and director of the Spiritual Health and Wellness Center.  

Dr. Bowman is double board certified in lifestyle medicine and pediatrics and serves as co-chair of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s (ACLM) Health Equity Achieved through Lifestyle Medicine (HEAL) Initiative. The HEAL Initiative addresses lifestyle-related chronic disease health disparities through lifestyle medicine solutions and helps diversify the healthcare workforce through lifestyle medicine training and certification.    

Dr. Bowman served a term on the ACLM Board of Directors from 2021 to 2024. He was named as an ACLM Fellow in 2024.  

The first half of his career was focused on pediatric global health and HIV. He spent 12 years teaching and caring for patients in Nigeria, Botswana, Uganda and Haiti through a University of Maryland President’s Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) grant, issued under former President George W. Bush. The program worked – eventually fewer babies were born with HIV – and the clinic populations were shrinking. Because of PEPFAR’s success, there was no need to renew Dr. Bowman’s contract in 2015. He found himself searching for a career change and the spiritual guidance that might help.    

Seeking a divine intervention 

 Around that time, Dr. Bowman’s church was doing a spiritual fast that avoided meat products and certain other foods for 21 days.  Dr. Bowman decided to join the fast with a friend.  

 “It was HARD,” he said. “I didn’t look up any recipes. I just did what I knew to do, which was brown rice, black beans and mixed vegetables.” 

 By day five, “I was literally screaming,” he said, but he was reminded that this was a spiritual fast, so he prayed about it. He recalled seeing children who had died of malnutrition, and instead he chose to be grateful that he was eating instead of complaining about the boring food.    

 On day 10, Dr. Bowman felt his life changing; his 10 year battle with constipation (that culminated in an anal fistula from the straining) was over. Within three weeks, he lost 11 lbs., and over time, all other symptoms of reflux, allergies, asthma, indigestion and abdominal pain were gone.  

 “I was physically a new man,” he said. 

 He went on to read the bestselling book “How Not to Die” by Dr. Michael Greger, and as he was reading it, “I was saying, how the heck did I not know that food could be medicine,” Dr. Bowman said. 

 “I wondered why I didn’t learn this in medical school or my residency. The cause of many of our health conditions has to do with our stress level or nutrition, physical inactivity, poor sleep or the other lifestyle medicine pillars,” he explained. 

Committing to lifestyle medicine 

Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and obesity.  Lifestyle medicine-certified clinicians are trained to apply evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive lifestyle change to treat and, when used intensively, often reverse such conditions. Applying the six pillars of lifestyle medicine—a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connections and avoidance of risky substances —also provides effective prevention for these conditions.   

With inspiration from Dr. Greger’s book and the documentary “Forks Over Knives,” Dr. Bowman switched to a plant-based diet. He lost 30 pounds and six inches from the waist size of his pants. 

After his own health transformation using lifestyle medicine and his faith, he has been passionate and innovative in empowering clinicians, patients, churches and the general public about the power of applying the pillars of lifestyle medicine in their lives. 

“Now I feel my purpose is to help transform health,” he said.  

Joining Howard University 

Dr. Bowman joined Howard University’s pediatric department in 2017. He practiced pediatrics and provided lifestyle medicine counseling to parents, so they could help improve their children’s health. 

He also served as Howard’s student health director for two years and created a Wellness Day for new residents at Howard University Hospital, a program that started in 2019 and today has successfully run for six consecutive years. For the 2019 inaugural Wellness Day, he provided health screenings and a predominantly whole food, plant-based menu plan for meals. He has given grand rounds presentations on lifestyle medicine to various departments at Howard University Hospital, including family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology.    

At the Howard University College of Medicine Spiritual Health and Wellness Center, which he opened in January 2025, the mission is to optimize whole-person health, encompassing mental, physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions through wellness initiatives, lifestyle interventions and outreach efforts geared to help students manifest their highest sense of meaning, purpose and service to others. Dr. Bowman is also faculty advisor for Howard University’s Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group (LMIG).  

Starting a revolution 

In addition to his work at Howard University and through ACLM, Dr. Bowman is co-founder, with his wife Keisha, of Lifestyle Med Revolution, an organization transforming health through nutrition, physical activity, spirituality, group support and more.    

This virtual program works with people all over the world through calls, Zoom meetings and other tools. The program has been successful in treating and reversing diabetes, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and other health conditions.  

Dr. Bowman has also spoken to churches on the intersection of health and faith, and in 2024, he and Keisha, with Faith Nyong, DNP, RN, presented on health and faith using lifestyle medicine at the ACLM annual conference. Dr. Bowman will speak again at ACLM’s conference this year, LM 2025, in November. 

His work has transformed his own family, his patients and their families, and he inspires those who hear him speak. His life has been forever changed by lifestyle medicine.  

Background 

Dr. Bowman received his undergraduate degree from Howard University and his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed his pediatrics residency at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a fellowship in HIV at Baylor Medical Center in Houston, Texas.