Philip Dow, Ph.D., was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on 20 June 1905. He obtained a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan in 1927, majoring in chemistry. While he studied and researched for his Ph.D. in General Physiology at Yale University, he served as an Assistant in Physiological Chemistry (1928-1930) and a Reader in Applied Physiology (1929-1932). He received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1935. His dissertation, “The Absorption of Egg Albumin on Collodion Membranes” was published in the Journal of General Physiology in 1936 (vol. 19, 907-916).

Dow began working at the Medical College of Georgia as a Research Fellow in 1935 under the direction of William F. Hamilton, Professor and Chairman of the Physiology and Pharmacology Department. From Research Fellow he served as a Professor of Physiology at MCG with the exception of the year he took as a leave of absence to serve as a Senior Instructor in Physiology at the Western Reserve University (1939-1940). In 1960 he became Chairman of the Physiology Department upon the retirement of Hamilton. Dow served in this capacity until his retirement in 1971, and he was named Professor Emeritus in 1972, which he maintained until his death on 17 December 1981.

Dow worked on physiological and clinical cardiovascular studies, including dye-dilution curves and dilution methods for measuring blood flow. He published numerous articles in the following fields: General Physiology, arterial pulse, blood flow, dyes and blood volume, and spectrophotometry.

Dow was a member of the American Physiological Society (1939). In 1945 to 1946 he was a member of the committee appointed by the APS to conduct a national survey of physiologists. He served as section editor of the Journal of American Physiology, and Executive Editor of the Circulation Section of the Handbook of Physiology, as well as on the committee for Physiology questions for the National Board of Examiners.

Dow served on various campus committees while on the Medical College of Georgia Faculty. His most extensive contribution to MCG outside the classroom and laboratory was his organization and execution of the yearly Commencement exercises.