Bauer was born November 18, 1909, in
Iowa City, Iowa. Despite his family having lost both its broom factory and farm during the
Great Depression, Bauer was able to work his way through school to earn both his
B.S. (1934) and
M.D. (1933) degrees from the
University of Iowa. Bauer's first major act in his career in the
United States Public Health Service was the establishment of a
Venereal Disease Center in Chicago in 1942. He went on to serve as chief of the Division of Venereal Disease in
Washington, D.C., from 1948 to 1953, and then as medical officer in charge of the Communicable Disease Center (now known as the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in
Atlanta,
Georgia, from 1953 to 1956. Bauer also served on numerous expert committees for the
World Health Organization between 1948 and 1957. Finally, Bauer was chief of the
Bureau of State Services in the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington, D.C., from 1960 to 1962. In 1962, he was awarded the
Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal upon his retirement after 29 years of service, having achieved the rank of
Assistant Surgeon General of the United States. In 1962, Bauer went to work for
Becton Dickinson and Company, where he was senior vice president for research and medical affairs until 1975. Bauer also served on Becton Dickinson's board of directors from 1965 to 1985. Additionally, Bauer served on numerous expert committees for the
American Medical Association, the Wyckoff
Board of Health, the planning board for
Hackensack University Medical Center, and the
New Jersey Governor's Health Care Administration Board. == Personal life ==