Dr. William A. Bauman was a medical researcher and internist specializing in endocrinology at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in the Bronx. Ann. M. Spungen, an applied physiologist, worked with Bauman on a respiratory function study using sophisticated equipment on veterans with spinal cord injury, a disabled population with numerous medically incapacitating conditions. When Bauman explained his dream of learning how spinal cord injuries caused many parts of the body to work poorly, Spungen quit her job and joined him.
