Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 10 text:

 In 1942, when the world was occupied by a major war, Bob Cohen was fighting his own war—to be accepted into the United States Army. His persistent efforts finally met with success, and the newly appointed military physician spent his entire four years of service at Fort Story, Virginia where he had been sent because of a yellow fever” epidemic. This was in reality an epidemic of hepatitis following a program of yellow fever immunization with contaminated vaccine. Here at Fort Story, he and Libby (his recently acquired wife, Elizabeth) lived for four years in a summer cottage equipped with no heat and black widow spiders in the basement. In this idyllic setting, where the mosquitos were so bad they drove you into the water where the jellyfish were so bad they drove you back onto the beach with the mosquitos,” three significant events took place, all of them boys. In 1946, when the war was over and the five Cohens returned to civilian life. Dr. Cohen found his father's specialty brought to new prominence because the number of cases of tuberculosis had markedly increased in the post-war period. Dr. Cohen began to spend a great deal of time helping his father at Eagleville. and consequently, became tagged as a specialist in tuberculosis and chest diseases. He resumed his academic duties at Temple, where, in 1956, he became a full time instructor, dividing his time between this hospital and the chest ward at Philadelphia General Hospital. 6

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Robert Cohen was born in Philadelphia in 1908. the only child of A. J. Cohen, M.D., a general practitioner who was then affiliated with what was to become the Phipps Institute. One year later, in 1909, his father began Eagleville Sanitarium, the first tuberculosis hospital to be established near a city, an act which at that time was considered therapeutic heresy. Dr. Cohen’s childhood, between the ages of 3 and 8. was marked by a series of illnesses and many operations for osteomyelitis, which somewhat limited his boyhood activities. After graduating from Central High School, Bob Cohen completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 3Vi years. Following this, he began his medical training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where, between his sophomore and junior years, in the summer of 1930, he served a junior internship at Eagleville. After graduation from medical school, Dr. Cohen took a two year rotating internship at Blocklcy. This was followed by one year as a pathology resident in Chicago, and then he returned to Eagleville for 1 V$ years to fill a resident vacancy. After this, Dr. Cohen studied under Wykoff for one year at the Bellevue heart clinic. It was with this experience and training behind him that in 1936 he became a part time clinical assistant in medicine at Temple Medical School where his father was also affiliated. There, with Hugo Roesler, he worked in the Medical and Heart Clinics and on the medical wards, while his weekends were spent at Eagleville, aiding his father. 5

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The Cohen family has lived at their present residence in Elkins Park since 1948—an old rambling house filled with warmth and hospitality. The family consists of Bob and Libby Cohen, Tom—17, Richard—16, Jimmy—14, and Thurbcr, a massive and somewhat spoiled golden retriever. The number one hobby of the entire Cohen family (with the obvious exception of Thurber) is travel. This began when young Robert Cohen was 16 years of age and his parents took him on a grand tour of Europe. Marriage and three active young boys did not bring the travels to a halt. They simply increased the size of the caravan. The children were raised as convention hoppers and in 1955 they took the big step: the entire family—the boys were then 9, 10V4, and 12—took off for Europe. They toured the Continent, the Scanda-navian Countries, and England, visiting friends in every country. The boys loved it! Since then, summer time is travel time for the Cohen family. “Every time we get enough money to paint the house, we take another trip instead. Dr. Cohen admits. In 1956. they crossed the country to the West Coast and returned through the Canadian Rockies. The following year it was Maine. In 1958, they returned to motor through England and Scotland and in 1959 they visited Mexico for one month. Tom, the oldest of the Cohen boys, used this opportunity to teach himself Spanish, although, admittedly. Father’s spontaneously improvised pseudo-Spanish was often more successful with the natives. In 1960 Dr. and Mrs. Cohen drove through Holland and Germany while the boys cycled and met them in Vienna for the International College of Chest Physicians. Dr. Cohen speaks knowingly of the many changes he has seen in medicine since that day in 1932 when he graduated from medical school. These changes encompass the past and the present, but what about the future? Dr. Cohen looks forward toward the day when there will be established a fellowship in chest diseases at Temple as well as a chest ward where all cases of chest pathology can be assembled. In the meantime. Dr. Cohen expects to spend most of his time sharing his knowledge and skill with future students. Each of us in the Class of 1961 will carry into his life's work a better familiarity and working knowledge of medicine because of our association with Dr. Robert V. Cohen.