Summit Medical Institute

Summit Medical Institute is dedicated to integrating cutting-edge research with the highest standard of patient care. Our team is committed to developing innovative treatments and improving clinical outcomes.

  • Director of Research

    Jennifer Bowden is the Director of Research at Summit Brain, Spine, and Orthopedics in Lehi, Utah. She also serves as Summit’s dietitian and helps coordinate educational programming. Jennifer is also an adjunct instructor in BYU’s dietetics program and loves working with the students in the Nutritional Assessment Lab.

    Jennifer received her BS and MS degrees at Utah State University in Dietetics and Nutrition Science, respectively. She received her PhD from Brigham Young University in Exercise Physiology where her research was in the impact of physical activity on nutrient transport in the intervertebral disc. Her current research interests revolve around perioperative nutrition and improving patient outcomes in spine surgery.  Other areas of interest are nutrition in pain management and in autoimmune disorders. She loves to help people better understand their personal health and wellbeing and the role nutrition plays.

    Jennifer and her husband Anton love spending time with their children and grandson.

  • Medical Director

    Dr. Edwards was born and raised in Utah Valley. He received a BS degree in microbiology at Brigham Young University, and graduated from the University of Iowa Medical School at the top of his class. He completed his neurosurgery residency at Indiana University, where he trained at one of the busiest and most well-respected neurosurgical practices in the country.

    Dr. Edwards has been practicing in Utah Valley since 2015, and has performed thousands of surgeries. His use of the latest and most minimally invasive surgical techniques allows patients to heal faster and have the best outcomes.

    Some of his unique specialties include scoliosis, spinal deformities, brain and spinal tumors, and motion preservation spine surgery, including lumbar and cervical artificial disc replacements. He is grateful for the opportunity to use these and other surgical skills to serve and give back to the people in his home state.

    He is a bold and creative patient advocate who collaborates with a broad spectrum of providers to give patients the best available care.

    He and his wife, Marie, have four loving, energetic boys. As a family they enjoy basketball, skiing, golf, and walks around their neighborhood.

Gastric Emptying Supplement Study

  • We have developed a nutritional supplement to improve nutrition right before and after surgery. We need to show that it empties from the stomach within 2 hours... and so far it does with an average emptying time of 74 minutes in a sample of 45 participants. One group we are missing information on is people taking medications that slow gastric emptying – the GLP-1 agonists like semaglutides (Ozempic) and Mounjaro. Right now local hospitals are having people on those medications only drink a few kinds of clear liquids for 48 hours before surgery as they don’t have data showing how long that fasting time really needs to be and want to be extra careful. They are excited to get our data and we need your help! If you or anyone you know takes those medications and would be willing to participate, we would love to have your help as soon as possible!

  • We are currently taking participants for this study. If you are interesting in helping, please fill out our contact form above. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Jennifer Bowden at jenniferb@summitbrainandspine.com

Nutrition Education Study

  • If you are having surgery with Dr. John Edwards, we will be recruiting for a nutrition education study very soon! We think giving people a few minutes of specific nutrition education help can make surgery recovery better.

  • We are currently taking participants for this study. If you are interesting in helping, please fill out our contact form above. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Jennifer Bowden at jenniferb@summitbrainandspine.com

Form Validation Study

  • If you have been a long-time patient at Summit, you may have noticed the forms asking about your ability to do certain things have changed. We hope they are easier to complete (less to read, simple scale) and that they give us and you a better long-term picture of how you are doing. We will be using these on the Align app so you can have your data too! For the research study, we are asking people to fill out both the new and “old” forms. For this study we are excited to partner with Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine and support developing medical students’ research skills.

  • We are currently taking participants for this study. If you are interesting in helping, please fill out our contact form above. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Jennifer Bowden at jenniferb@summitbrainandspine.com

At Summit, we collaborate with many other providers - physical therapists, pain doctors, chiropractors, primary care physicians and more - to put together your care plan.