Dickinson Cowan
obstetrics · gynaecology · fertilityAbout Mr Cowan
Dick Cowan specialises in the fields of conception, miscarriage and pregnancy. He has played a leading role in developing treatments for infertility, such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), in the UK.
Fertility expert
In the early 1980s, Mr Cowan helped set up the IVF unit at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. From 1984 to 1987 he was assistant medical director at Bourne Hall Clinic near Cambridge. There he worked with the pioneers of IVF, Professor Robert Edwards and Mr Patrick Steptoe, who were responsible for the world's first test-tube baby.Mr Cowan joined the Portland Hospital IVF unit in 1987 and was medical director from 1992 to 2002. During this time the Portland Hospital IVF Unit produced some of the best results in the UK. Now as an independent specialist in reproductive medicine, he has the advantage of being able to choose the best place to treat his patients.
Qualifications & other experience
Mr Cowan obtained his degree in medicine from Oxford University. He was consultant and lecturer in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of Natal/King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban, South Africa, from 1975 until he returned to the UK in 1981 to work at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London until 1984.Dick Cowan was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh), FRCS, in 1976 and a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, FRCOG, in 1982. He went into private practice in 1985.