An Illinois native, McGowan was associate dean for Health Sciences Informatics and Library Resources at the Charles A. Dana Medical Library, University of Vermont at Burlington. There, she provided leadership for health informatics and telemedicine research. She was director of the library from 1991 to 1998. McGowan was a professor of applied informatics at UV College of Medicine's pediatrics department. She also was co-director of the Vermont Initiative for Rural Health Informatics and Telemedicine, overseeing education and research programs, grants, contracts and special funding.
Informatics is the science of the electronic collection, storage and retrieval of information.
Va. McGowan replaces Dana McDonald, who retired last year as director of the Ruth Lilly Medical Library, which serves IUSM faculty, students, staff and practicing health-care professionals throughout the state. It contains more than 170,00 volumes and subscribes to more than 1,800 journals. It also has a wide variety of medical, health sciences, biological, chemical and psychological electronic databases.