Donald J. Cohen
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Donald Jay Cohen (September 5, 1940 – October 2, 2001) was an American
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
, psychoanalyst, and director of the
Yale Child Study Center The Yale Child Study Center is a department at the Yale University School of Medicine. The center conducts research and provides clinical services and medical training related to children and families. Topics of investigation include autism and r ...
and the Sterling Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology at the
Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...
. According to the ''New York Times'', he was "known for his scientific work, including fundamental contributions to the understanding of
autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
,
Tourette's syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...
and other illnesses, and for his leadership in bringing together the biological and the psychological approaches to understanding psychiatric disorders in childhood"; his work "reshaped the field of child psychiatry". He was also known as an advocate for social policy, and for his work to promote the interests of children exposed to violence and trauma.


Personal life and education

Donald Jay Cohen was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 5, 1940. His father was a businessman. His family says that when he "was five years old he went up to his room to study and never came down". According to his son-in-law and later colleague Andrés Martin, Cohen was an "observant Jew with deep ties to Israel and a lifelong preoccupation with the Holocaust", who described himself as a "Jewish boy of humble origins growing up in Chicago". Cohen graduated ''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' from
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
in 1961, with a BA in philosophy and psychology, and studied philosophy at
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
on a
Fulbright fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
. He obtained his MD in 1966 from Yale School of Medicine, and completed his general and child psychiatry residency at Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Children's Hospital, in Boston and Washington, DC. According to ''The New York Times'', Cohen said that "as a student he honed his fund-raising skills working as a copy writer for a mail order catalog, extolling the virtues of women's hats and other merchandise". He was described as "an avid scholar who loved French poetry and German philosophy, as well as science and medicine". Cohen died in New Haven, Connecticut of
ocular melanoma Uveal melanoma is a type of eye cancer in the uvea of the eye. It is traditionally classed as originating in the iris, choroid, and ciliary body, but can also be divided into class I (low metastatic risk) and class II (high metastatic risk). Symp ...
on October 2, 2001, at the age of 61; he was survived by his wife, Phyllis Cohen, a psychoanalyst at the
Yale Child Study Center The Yale Child Study Center is a department at the Yale University School of Medicine. The center conducts research and provides clinical services and medical training related to children and families. Topics of investigation include autism and r ...
, four children, and five grandchildren, two brothers, and his mother.


Career


Medical

Cohen joined the
Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...
in 1972. Along with other researchers, he had begun looking at non-psychological (organic) causes for
Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...
(TS) by 1976. Cohen was named the director of the
Yale Child Study Center The Yale Child Study Center is a department at the Yale University School of Medicine. The center conducts research and provides clinical services and medical training related to children and families. Topics of investigation include autism and r ...
in 1983—a position he held until his death in 2001. In 2000, he was named the Sterling Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology at Yale. At Yale, he studied personality development, TS management, the effects of stress on developing children, and the interplay between genetic and environmental factors in neuropsychiatric disorders. According to a former commissioner of the
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
, Cohen "moved child psychiatry into the biological era, but he continued to put emphasis on the psychological and social aspects affecting child development". According to the ''Yale Bulletin'', Cohen made "groundbreaking contributions in biological psychiatry, clinical care and the development of international collaborations in child psychiatry". As a "pioneer" in autism and Tourette syndrome research, he proposed treatments for TS which "opened new avenues to treating and understanding the disorder". His colleague Andrés Martin said his work with autism "was in large part devoted to understanding and listening to those same individuals who had been written off as incapable of communicating meaningfully and to following the string of their social communicative mishaps to their deepest core". At Yale, Cohen helped found the International Working Group on Children and War, and the Yale-New Haven Child Development Community Policing Program, to train first responders to help children exposed to violence and trauma; police were trained to call in the Yale Child Study Center professionals in instances of violence or trauma involving children. Martin said, "he dedicated much of his later career to addressing the mental health needs of children in poor and war-torn nations".


Appointments

Cohen became a vice-president of the
International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions The International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) is a non-governmental international association that advocates for the "promotion of the mental health and development of children and adolescents th ...
(IACAPAP) in 1986, and was president from 1992 to 1998, where his work fostered "international collaborations in research and clinical care". According to the ''Yale Bulletin'', he was proud of his work in helping to promote child psychiatry in Gaza and in creating the Eastern Mediterranean Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (EMACAPAP), for which he served as chair of the international scientific committee. He served as vice-president of the board of governors of Yale University Press, was an analyst at the Western New England Institute of Psychoanalysis, and was a member of the
Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...
of the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
. He held additional chair appointments with the Child Health and Development Institute, the International President of the Telefon Azzuro Foundation in Italy, and Schneider Children's Hospital of Israel. He served on editorial boards in the United States as well as in France, Israel, and Great Britain.


Other achievements

Cohen was also known as an "institutional builder"; he is credited with transforming three buildings at Yale to help give the Yale Child Study Center prominence (the Children's Psychiatric Inpatient Service, the Harris-Provence Child Development Unit, and the Nelson and Irving Harris Building), obtaining "prominent and central locations at the medical school for each of these buildings". He also helped bring kosher kitchens to the university.


Publications

Cohen authored or co-authored more than 300 professional articles and 159 book chapters, including "the definitive textbooks on
pervasive developmental disorder The diagnostic category pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), as opposed to specific developmental disorders (SDD), is a group of disorders characterized by delays in the development of multiple basic functions including socialization and co ...
s and on
tic disorder Tic disorders are defined in the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM) based on type (motor or phonic) and duration of tics (sudden, rapid, nonrhythmic movements). Tic disorders are defined similarly by the World Health ...
s". His books include: * ''Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Diagnosis, Development, Neurobiology, and Behavior (volume 1)'', * ''Tourette's Syndrome -- Tics, Obsessions, Compulsions: Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Care'', * ''Tourette's Syndrome and Tic Disorders: Clinical Understanding and Treatment'', * ''Life Is with Others: Selected Writings on Child Psychiatry'', * ''The Yale Child Study Center Guide to Understanding Your Child: Healthy Development from Birth to Adolescence'', He inspired the production of the "first Israeli textbook of child psychiatry in Hebrew, the first modern textbook of child psychiatry in China and a new textbook of child psychiatry in South Korea".


Legacy

Colleagues said Cohen "blended a profound spirituality with a broad understanding of science and clinical work"; friend
Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
described him as someone who "did more in his 61 years than most anyone else could ever hope to accomplish in a lifetime ... a true professional, and caregiver and friend to the thousands of people who had the good fortune of knowing him" and a person who "dedicated his life to helping children and adolescents ... working tirelessly to develop and promote programs to assist children". He was described as "a humanist, with tremendous compassion and insight into his patients". Colleague James F. Leckman said, "He fostered the development of the next generation of academic child psychiatrists from many countries, in Europe, Korea, China, as well as Israel", and described him as "committed to forging closer ties between Israel and Palestine through contacts and visits with various psychiatrists, psychologists, and social service agencies active in Gaza and the West Bank." According to Leckman and colleague Joseph L. Woolston, Cohen's "ability to put children and adults at ease" was "just magical"; Leckman said of Cohen, "To be a good child psychiatrist, you have to be a child at heart, and Donald was always willing to be sort of down there on the floor with the kids." But he was also known for engaging parents; according to the
National Child Traumatic Stress Network The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) is an American organization whose "mission is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States" ...
:
Regardless of the disorder he was studying, Dr. Cohen engaged parents to an unprecedented degree. He took their advice in designing his studies and shared his papers with them before submitting them for publication. He called this approach, "participatory research," and the children's families loved him for it.
According to
Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
:
I recently learned from my colleague, Senator Dodd, that Dr. Cohen was the first person to suggest a special health insurance program for children that ultimately became the
Children's Health Insurance Program The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – formerly known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – is a program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to ...
. Today, this program throughout the Nation provides health care for millions of children who would otherwise go without the basic care they need to grow up healthy and flourish.


Recognition

In 2001, The Donald J. Cohen National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative was established "to improve access to care, treatment, and services for children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events and to encourage and promote collaboration between service providers in the field." The Stress Initiative was a bill by Senator
Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
and approved by both houses of US Congress to amend the
Public Health Service Act The Public Health Service Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1944. The full act is codified in Title 42 of the United States Code (The Public Health and Welfare), Chapter 6A (Public Health Service). Contents The act clearly establis ...
to recognize Cohen's contributions to victims of violence-related stress. In 2002, the Donald J. Cohen and Irving B. Harris Center for Trauma and Disaster Intervention was named at
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
to honor Cohen's contributions. Cohen's work was recognized by the National Commission on Children and the
American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...
(APA); he received the Strecker Award from the
Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, also known as Kirkbride's Hospital or the Pennsylvania Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases, was a psychiatric hospital located at 48th and Haverford Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It oper ...
and the Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Prevention from the APA. Other programs established in his honor include: * The Donald J. Cohen Fellowship in Developmental Neuroscience at
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
. * The Donald J. Cohen Fellowship from the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions. * The Donald J. Cohen Medical Student Training Program at The Vermont Center for Children, Youth, and Families.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Donald J. 1940 births 2001 deaths Alumni of the University of Cambridge American psychiatrists Brandeis University alumni Jewish physicians Physicians from Chicago Tourette syndrome Yale School of Medicine alumni Yale Sterling Professors Yale School of Medicine faculty 20th-century American physicians Members of the National Academy of Medicine