Robert Donald Cohen

Robert Donald Cohen CBE FRCP FMedSci (11 October 1933 – 17 October 2014) was a British physician, professor of medicine, and one of the leading experts on metabolic medicine.[3]

Robert Donald Cohen
Born(1933-10-11)11 October 1933
Plymouth,[1] England, UK
Died17 October 2014(2014-10-17) (aged 81)
London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationAcademic physician, medical researcher, and professor of medicine
Known forClinical and Biochemical Aspects of Lactic Acidosis (1976)[2]
Cohen-Woods classification

Biography

After education at Plymouth College and then from 1947 to 1951 at Clifton College, Bristol, Cohen studied from 1951 to 1954 at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with first class honours in the natural science tripos. He then studied medicine from 1954 to 1958 at the London Hospital Medical College (LHMC). He graduated in 1958 MB BChir (Cantab.) and in 1966 M.D. (Cantab.). He qualified MRCP in 1960. In 1961 he married Barbara J. Boucher, who was also a medical student at LHMC. After junior appointments from 1958 to 1959 at the London Hospital, Robert Cohen was from 1959 to 1960 house physician at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, where he worked at the endocrine and metabolic unit under Russell Fraser. At LHMC, Cohen was in 1960–1965 lecturer in medicine, in 1967–1969 senior lecturer, in 1969–1974 reader in medicine, in 1974–1982 professor of metabolic medicine, and in 1982–1995 professor of medicine and director of the academic medical unit. After LHMC merged in 1995, he was in 1995–1999 professor of medicine and director of the academic medical unit at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. He retired as professor emeritus in 1999.[3][4]

His research was primarily focused on biochemical functions of the liver, foetal programming and acid base disorders ... His group were the first to demonstrate the modifications by diabetes mellitus, metabolic acidosis and maternal malnutrition of functional zonation of hepatic lobules, information that continues to inform therapeutic developments.[3]

Cohen was elected FRCP in 1971.[3] He was chair of the editorial board of Clinical Science from 1973 to 1975.[5] He gave the Bradshaw Lecture in 1981.[6] He was an active member of numerous medical committees. He was elected FMedSci in 1998. He chaired from 1994 to 2001 the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and played a central role in its merger in 2002 with The Cancer Research Campaign to create Cancer Research UK. He was appointed CBE in 1997.[3]

Upon his death Cohen was survived by his widow, a daughter, a son, and five grandsons.[3]

Lactic acidosis

In 1961 William E. Huckabee (1926–1986) described and defined the clinical problem of lactic acidosis.[7][8] Cohen and H. Frank Woods introduced in 1976 what is now called the Cohen-Woods classification of the causes of lactic acidosis.

They classify as type A, the traditional variety, due to hypoxia and lack of tissue perfusion. The main theme is type B, lactic acidosis of other origins, which is considered fully with an analysis of all published causes. These are divided into:
(1) diabetes, liver disease, and other serious diseases
(2) phenformin, fructose, and other drugs
(3) hereditary.[9]

Selected publications

Articles

Books

References
  1. Watts, Geoff (2015). "Robert Donald Cohen" (PDF). The Lancet. 385 (9975): 1288. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(15)60673-0. PMID 25890905.
  2. Williams, Roger (1976). "Review of Clinical and Biochemical Aspects of Lactic Acidosis by R. D. Cohen and H. F. Woods". Br Med J. 2 (6038): 762. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.6038.762-c. PMC 1688799.
  3. "Robert Donald Cohen". Munk's Roll, Volume XII, Royal College of Physicians.
  4. Cohen, Robert D. (28 September 2014). Corpus Hominis. p. 142. ISBN 9781783060672.
  5. Cohen, Robert D. (28 September 2014). Corpus Hominis. p. 143. ISBN 9781783060672.
  6. Cohen, R. D. (April 1982). "Some Acid Problems: The Bradshaw Lecture 1981". J R Coll Physicians Lond. 16 (2): 69–73, &6–77. PMC 5377755. PMID 7077566.
  7. Huckabee, William E. (June 1961). "Abnormal resting blood lactate. I. The significance of hyperlactatemia in hospitalized patients". Am J Med. 30 (6): 833–839. doi:10.1016/0002-9343(61)90171-1.
  8. Huckabee, William E. (June 1961). "Abnormal resting blood lactate. II. Lactic acidosis". Am J Med. 30 (6): 840–848. doi:10.1016/0002-9343(61)90172-3. PMID 13716482.
  9. Baron, D. N. (January 1977). "Review of Clinical and Biochemical Aspects of Lactic Acidosis". J Clin Pathol. 30 (1): 92. doi:10.1136/jcp.30.1.92-d. PMC 476665.
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