78 Photo Essay: Jeb Cowen

UAB Medical Student

Words by Terrell Manasco | Image by Al Blanton

 For as long as he can remember, Jeb Cowen wanted to be either a professional baseball player or a doctor. By the time he reached junior high, one was off the table. 

“About 8th grade, I ended up hating baseball,” Jeb says. 

One might assume Jeb was inspired to study medicine because his dad, Gary Cowen, was an OB-GYN physician in Jasper in the 1980s, except his dad retired from medicine before Jeb was born. 

“My aspirations to become a doctor had a lot to do with his friends,” Jeb says. 

Some of those friends were medical colleagues. One was Gary’s close friend and Jeb’s “other dad,” Dr. Jerry Mosley.

 “Mom would always laugh and say when she married my father, she was always number two,” Jeb laughs. 

 Mosley, Jeb says, was “the switch” that sparked his desire to become a doctor. “That dude is one of the best I’ve ever seen do what he does. His relationships with his patients, the care he has for them…you can tell they love him.” 

A 2013 Walker High School graduate, Jeb completed his undergrad at Samford University and followed up with a master’s program at the University of Alabama. He is now a second-year medical student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). 

Most everyone has been affected to some degree by the coronavirus pandemic. For medical students, it has been a game-changer. “COVID has changed everything in the field and created a lot of challenges,” Jeb says. “I'm laughing and telling people, I don't know if you want to see the class of 2023 physicians because we're all online.”

Medical school is inherently stressful, but the “we’re all in this together” mindset can make it more bearable. Isolation only intensifies the stress. 

“If you're around people going through a hardship in med school it makes everything a little easier, but now you're pretty much alone,” Jeb says. 

Second-year medical students don’t see many patients, but some visits are permitted. Jeb says building those relationships and establishing trust is what inspires him. “It might not be the broken arm or the torn ACL,” he says. “They might want to talk about something a little bit deeper. I fall in love with that.”

Jeb says he has many fond memories of Jasper and hopes to eventually have a practice here.

“I had such a wonderful experience growing up,” he says. “I am thankful to the people of Jasper for what they've done for me and how much they've lifted me up.” 

Thankfully for the folks back home, Jeb has chosen the medical profession as his career path. After all, the town doesn’t have any professional baseball teams, but there’s always room for a good doctor. 78