Record

Code	DS/UK/136
Dates	1890-1979
Person Name	McCowan; Peter (1890-1979); medical practitioner and barrister-at-law
Surname	McCowan
Forenames	Peter
Epithet	medical practitioner and barrister-at-law
Activity	Dr P. K. McCowan was born in Perth on 3 September 1890 and graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1912, then in M.D. in 1922. He held several hospital positions and set up in practice in Anstruther before moving into the field of psychiatry. In 1928 he was appointed physician superintendent at Cardiff City Mental Hospital and was also a lecturer in the Welsh National School of Medicine. In 1937 he took the post of physician superintendent at Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries, where he remained until 1957. During the Second World War a Military Hospital was established in a requisitioned building at Crichton Royal with Dr McCowan in the position of Colonel in Charge, assuming control of the facility for officer patients. In 1948 he successfully led the hospital through the transition to becoming part of the newly created National Health Service. He also presided over the establishment of outpatient clinics, the Department of Child Psychiatry, and significant developments in clinical and psychological research, linking the hospital to the University of Glasgow. In addition to his successful medical career, in 1930 he qualified as barrister-at-law and served as a magistrate. He also served as a member of the Western Regional Health Board. He was elected president of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association in 1951 and became an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He died on 17 March 1979, aged 88.

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