In 2000, Bowman joined
Emory University as an assistant professor at the university's
Rollins School of Public Health. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2006 and Professor in 2013. In 2007 Bowman founded the Center for Biomedical Imaging Statistics. The field of
neuroimaging was only just emerging whilst he was on the faculty at Emory, and psychiatrists realised that they would need a good grasp of statistics to make best of use of it. where he was made Cynthia and Robert Citrone–Roslyn and Leslie Goldstein Professor. Here his work considered biostatistical approaches to better understand brain imaging data. Cynthia and Robert Citrone decided to fund the chair position after meeting Bowman and hearing about the impact of his research. On July 19, 2018, Bowman was appointed the 12th dean of the
University of Michigan School of Public Health, effective October 15, 2018. As Bowman decided to begin his tenure as the 13th president of Morehouse College in Georgia on July 15, 2025, Bowman's last day at the University of Michigan was set July 11, 2025. == Awards and honors ==