Barrowman, Dr. James

James Adam Barrowman (1936-1991), physician and professor, was born 4 June 1936 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He attended early schooling at George Watson’s Boys’ College in Edinburgh from 1948 to 1954. That same year he enrolled in Edinburgh University where he went on to complete a BSc, (Hons Physiology) and the degrees of MB and ChB in 1961. In 1964, he was made a member of the Royal College of Physicians and two years later, earned a PhD from London University in 1966. Following this appointment, he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada) in 1977 for Gastroenterology and in 1979 for Internal Medicine. In 1980, he also was made a Fellow of the American College of Physicians by direct election and in 1981 he also became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) by
direct election.

Over the years, Dr. Barrowman held a variety of positions and appointments. From 1961 to 1962, he held a twelve-month pre-registration service and was House Physician to Professor John Strong, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh and House Surgeon to Sir John Bruce at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. In 1962, he was appointed as a six-month senior house officer in gastroenterological medicine with Drs. Card and W. Sircus at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. From 1963 to 1966, Dr. Barrowman was Junior Lecturer and then Lecturer in the Department of Physiology at the London Hospital Medical College. Between 1967 and 1968, he was the Wellcome Travelling Research Fellow in University of Lund, Sweden, as part of the Department of Physiological Chemistry. Following this, he accepted a position as Senior Lecturer in Physiology at the London Hospital Medical College where he remained until 1975, having held the positions of Medical Registrar, Senior Lecturer in Medicine, and numerous other responsibilities in gastroenterology at the London Hospital.

In 1975, Dr. Barrowman made the trip to Newfoundland when he accepted the post of Associate Professor of Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Physiology at the new medical school at Memorial University in St. John’s. He became a full professor in 1979 and was appointed Assistant Dean, Research and Graduate Studies (Medicine) at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He was also Director of the Residency Training Programme in Gastroenterology in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial.

Outside of his teaching, Dr. Barrowman was involved in other aspects of professional medicine. These included holding memberships in Professional Societies such as the British Society of Gastroenterology, the Physiological Society, the Medical Research Society, the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Physiological Society, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Pancreatic Association, the International Society of Lymphology, the American College of Physicians, the Canadian Liver Club, the Splanchic Circulation Group, the American Physiological Society, the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology, the America Oil Chemists’ Society and the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Ileitis/Colitis foundation.

James and his wife Gwynedd (nee Price) had four children. Dr. Barrowman died on 22 September 1991.