Mr Dowen was born and educated in Durham City before completing his medical training at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2005. His surgical training was also completed in the north east of England prior to undertaking a year long fellowship in complex lower limb joint replacement (hip and knee surgery) in Auckland, New Zealand. He also worked in Auckland City Hospitals, dealing with major trauma for hips fellowship year, gaining invaluable experience dealing with periprosthetic fractures around hip and knee replacements.

He specialises in hip and knee replacement surgery with a special interest in complex and revision (re-do) surgery and perform key hole knee surgery. He also regularly performs general trauma surgery in his NHS practice.

Mr Dowen has a very heavy research background and always takes an evidence based approach when looking at individual patients. He is currently a Speciality Group Lead for the North East and Cumbria for Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery as well as the Research Lead at Sunderland Hospital.