People: Richard J. Cohen

Bio

Dr. Cohen received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School in 1976 and his PhD in Physics in the same year from MIT. He pursued clinical training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in Internal Medicine (board certified) and Cardiology. Since 1979 he has been on the MIT faculty where he is currently the Whitaker Professor in Biomedical Engineering, Emeritus in the Institute of Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) program.

For 25 years he served as an Associate Physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, for ten years he directed the Center for Biomedical Engineering of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), for six years he directed the NASA Center for Quantitative Cardiovascular Physiology, Modeling and Data Analysis at MIT, and for eight years he was Team Leader of the Cardiovascular Alterations Team of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. For nine years Dr. Cohen co-directed the Biomedical Enterprise Program of HST and the MIT Sloan School of Management. Students in this program obtained an MBA degree and an SM degree in Health Sciences and Technology preparing them for leadership positions in the biomedical industry.  For ten years he served on the committee that manages the Healthcare Certificate at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Dr. Cohen has directed his Division’s Cardiovascular Pathophysiology and Principles of Pharmacology courses taken by both MD and PhD students. He has taught courses in biomedical enterprise: Dynamics of Biomedical Technologies, Evaluating a Biomedical Business Concept, and Medicine for Managers and Entrepreneurs. He has also taught a variety of other courses including courses on cell and tissue biophysics, quantitative physiology, biomedical signal processing and biomedical engineering.

Dr. Cohen has extensive industry experience. He has consulted for many biomedical companies and has co-founded two. He has served on the boards of for-profit and non-profit organizations, and has had public board of directors experience. He has taught courses on how to manage the many issues faced by biomedical companies and in this capacity he has interacted with many biomedical industry leaders. He also has made a number of successful presentations at the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on reimbursement issues. He has also served as an expert witness in patent litigation and corporate litigation cases. Kathleen Kerrigan, Chief Judge of the US Tax Court, cited Dr. Cohen's testimony in support of her opinion in a corporate tax litigation case (US Tax Court Docket No. 6944-11).

MIT established an endowed faculty chair, the Richard J. Cohen (1976) Professorship in Medicine and Biomedical Physics, from sale of MIT’s initial stake in a company that Dr. Cohen co-founded.

Research

Dr. Cohen focuses on the application of physics and engineering to solve problems in biology and medicine, particularly in developing cardiovascular diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

Selected Awards/Societies

• John A. and George L. Hartford Fellow
• Presented Morrison Nathanson Lecture in Cardiovascular Science. USC
• Presented Emilio Segre Distinguished Lectures in Physics, Tel Aviv University
• Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
• Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecturer, Tel Aviv University
• Co-Founder: Cambridge Heart and Sirona Medical Technologies