Valerie Jarrett's father, Dr. James E. Bowman, was an American physician and specialist in pathology, hematology, and genetics.

"James Bowman, M.D., an African American professor of genetics at the University of Chicago, was the lone voice crying out in the genetic wilderness when he was invited to address a 1971 Black Panthers event. There, sickle-cell screening was being conducted by community leaders, who warned that anyone who tested positive could expect to live only twenty years longer."

(from the book "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans")