Bio
Mitchell B. Cohen, M.D., is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine. He serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and the Senior Associate Dean in the School of Medicine for Maternal and Child Health. From 2014-2024, he was the Katharine Reynolds Ireland Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Physician-in-Chief of Children’s of Alabama. Prior to that, he served as the Director of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and Vice Chair of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Dr. Cohen was the founding Director of the P30 Cincinnati Digestive Health Center: Bench to Bedside Research in Pediatric Digestive Diseases His research focused on the mechanism of action of E. coli heat stable enterotoxin, a worldwide cause of infant diarrhea. His laboratory identified that increased guanylyl cyclase (GC-C) receptors for this toxin contributed to the increased susceptibility and severity of diarrhea seen in infants. Identification of the endogenous ligands for GC-C, guanylin and uroguanylin, led to development of knockout mice and an evolving understanding of intestinal secretion and pharmacologic treatment through this ligand-receptor family. Dr. Cohen had a long-standing NIH-supported program of vaccine trials for enteric infection, including a validated human cholera challenge model which resulted in licensure of a cholera vaccine.
Dr. Cohen has held leadership positions in several professional capacities. He served as the only pediatrician on the NIH Commission on Digestive Diseases; he was chair of the Section on Growth, Development and Nutrition of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and the Section on Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (SOGHN) of the American Academy of Pediatrics; he was President of NASPGHAN, the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. Dr. Cohen was elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians and has received several lifetime achievement awards, including the Shwachman Award from NASPGHAN, the Saul Horowitz Jr. Award from Mt. Sinai, and the UAB Department of Pediatrics Lifetime Achievement Award.
