Alan Cohen Named the New Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery

To the Johns Hopkins Medicine community

Dear Colleagues,

I am excited to announce that Alan Cohen, an acclaimed leader in developing minimally invasive techniques to enhance the safety and efficacy of various pediatric neurosurgical procedures, will join Johns Hopkins Medicine on May 23 as the new chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery.

Dr. Cohen will also hold the Benjamin S. Carson Sr., M.D., and Dr. Evelyn Spiro, R.N., Professorship in Pediatric Neurosurgery. Dr. Cohen comes to Johns Hopkins from Boston Children's Hospital, where he served as the neurosurgeon-in-chief and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery. During the five years he headed neurosurgery at Boston Children's, it was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s top programs.

He also was the Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School. In 2013, he collaborated with Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to create a new Department of Neurosurgery at Harvard.

Before joining Harvard’s faculty in 2011, Dr. Cohen spent 17 years as chief of pediatric neurosurgery and was the inaugural surgeon-in-chief at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/Case Western Reserve University.

A native of New York City, Dr. Cohen earned his medical degree from Cornell University School of Medicine and later completed his neurosurgery residency at New York University Medical Center.

An accomplished researcher, he has written 170 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and published two textbooks. He currently serves as president-elect of the Society of Neurological Surgeons, and as a director of the American Board of Neurosurgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurosurgery. He is immediate past president of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons.

I look forward to Dr. Cohen's plans to create robust clinical and research fellowships, and develop stronger partnerships with neurology and adult neurosurgery. Recognizing the value of collaboration within our health system, he also intends to increase the Department of Neurosurgery’s collaboration with his predecessor, George Jallo, who now heads neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Dr. Cohen's wife, pediatric neurosurgeon and neuroscientist Shenandoah "Dody" Robinson, will join him here as a professor of neurosurgery. Dr. Robinson is a nationally recognized expert in the surgical treatment of epilepsy and spasticity, and performs basic and translational research in perinatal brain injury and repair.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Cohen and Dr. Robinson to the Johns Hopkins family.

Sincerely,

Henry Brem, M.D.
Harvey Cushing Professor
Director, Department of Neurosurgery
Johns Hopkins Medicine