Medical Assistant Kara Bowman shares her love for helping patients navigate their care and how she appreciates that much more following a recent reversal of those roles.
What is your current role?
I am currently the practice coordinator for Pawina Jiramongkolchai, MD, MSCI, and Matthew Shew, MD. What I love most about my job is helping and getting to know our patients and working alongside such an incredible team at the Ballas office. Most of all, I’m grateful for the support I receive from the doctors I work with every day.
I experienced that support firsthand last year when I unexpectedly became a patient myself. An incidental finding on a scan ultimately led to a parotidectomy with Dr. Pipkorn. It was a very scary time for me, but the compassion and encouragement I received from my doctors and coworkers is something I will never forget.
How would you describe life in the Bowman household?
I’ve been married to my husband Tom for 20 years, and we have two children. My daughter Casey recently graduated from high school and will be attending Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida this fall. My son Charlie just finished his junior year at Parkway West High School. Over the years, they’ve kept us very busy — and entertained — with soccer and basketball games, field hockey matches and dive meets.
I started working part-time for Dr. Herzog 15 years ago. When that practice joined WashU and I learned about the college tuition benefit, I decided to move to full-time. I’m especially grateful for that decision as we now prepare to send two kids through college!
What do you enjoy outside of work?
Outside of work, I love traveling – anywhere tropical is a preference! My favorite destination is the Bahamas, specifically Pig Island. There are all these baby pigs on the island and they swim out to meet your boat.
Aside from that, if you know me at all, you know my absolute favorite thing in the world is my dog Benny. He’s a COVID rescue 6-year-old black lab mix that is definitely an integral part of our family.