David L. Cowen

Rutgers’ annual David L. Cowen Lecture in the History of Pharmacy, the nation’s first lecture series in the field, was established at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy in 1989. Cowen, who began teaching in 1933, is credited with putting his discipline on the academic map and produced many works of distinction. A Rutgers professor emeritus of history, Cowen received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1961 and the Rutgers Medal in 1974. He co-wrote Pharmacy: An Illustrated History, published in 1990. In 1991, he and the late Roy A. Bowers, former dean of the College of Pharmacy, coauthored Rutgers University College of Pharmacy: A Centennial History. On the national level, he has served on the councils of the American Association for the History of Medicine, the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, and the International Society for the History of Pharmacy. He chaired the Council of the Institute of Pharmacy for 10 years. In his honor, the Medical History Society of New Jersey has established the David L. Cowen Award for Achievement in Medical History. Cowen died in 2006.