Dr. John Bower was a pioneering nephrologist who established the first dialysis program in Mississippi in 1965, expanding access to lifesaving care across a medically underserved region. Trained at the Medical College of Virginia under transplant surgeon David Hume, with additional experience learning dialysis techniques from Belding Scribner and physiology from Arthur Guyton, Dr. Bower helped translate early advances in dialysis into practical, community-based treatment. In this interview, he reflects on the formative years of nephrology, the challenges of delivering dialysis before Medicare, and the ethical and clinical realities of caring for patients during dialysis’s earliest era.
