printable versionEnd of an era: Cohen steps down as Packard's chief of staff
BY KRISTA CONGER
After 14 years of administrative duties, Harvey Cohen, MD, PhD, doesn't regret handing over the titles of chief of staff of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and chair of pediatrics. But there is one moniker with which he's not yet willing to part—that of Santa for the hospital's tiniest patients.
"From the minute Harvey got here, he decided it was something he wanted to do," said Colette Case, the hospital's director of child and family life services, describing how Cohen has a Santa picture taken with every child and given to the family as a keepsake. "If we ever forget to call him to set it up, he calls us."
Cohen, who in 1993 succeeded former chair Irving Schulman, MD, stepped down Nov. 15 to re-devote himself to clinical and research pursuits, but he's not handing over the reins to the sleigh. After all, the holiday role playing fits in perfectly with what the racquetball-playing, bicycle-riding 63-year-old loves best: caring for sick children.
"These past 14 years have been the best of my life," said Cohen, "but it's time for someone to come in and take the hospital to the next level of greatness. I've missed not being a doctor." Kenneth Cox, MD, and Christy Sandborg, MD, will serve as interim chair and chief, respectively, until a permanent replacement can be found.
Although his leadership responsibilities left little time to examine patients, Cohen has made a lasting impact on children's health care—locally and nationally—through his tireless dedication to mentoring, recruiting, legislative lobbying and fundraising.
"During his tenure, he and his colleagues transformed the department of pediatrics and children's services at Packard Children's," said medical school dean Philip Pizzo, MD, who has known Cohen since 1970 when they were both interns at Children's Hospital Boston.
Packard Children's was in its infancy when Cohen arrived from the University of Rochester, but he was undaunted by its lack of a proven track record. "The fact that the hospital was quite young was really exciting," he said. "It was not encumbered by views and thoughts that would prevent the development of a unique institution, one providing comprehensive, child and family-centered care for all kids in an academic atmosphere."
Over the course of Cohen's tenure, hospital admissions have more than doubled; outcomes for kids with transplants, cancer, heart disease and cystic fibrosis have dramatically improved; outreach programs have blossomed, and grant support for research in the Department of Pediatrics is up fivefold. The hospital was recently ranked as one of the top children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
Cohen played a critical role in ensuring that the hospital had sufficient funds to grow. In 2001 the hospital, the School of Medicine and the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health embarked upon the largest fundraising campaign ever for a pediatric hospital—and reached their five-year goal of $500 million two years early. "We could not have accomplished this without Harvey's help," said LPFCH campaign director Linda Collier. "He represents the 'heart and soul' of Packard Hospital, providing a welcoming face to patient families and donors alike." Collier estimates that Cohen solicited or inspired more than seven gifts of $5 million or more, including those that helped establish the Vera Moulton Wall Center, the Bass Cancer Center and the hospital's CT/MRI suite.
The money also allowed the recruitment of more than 40 high-profile clinicians and researchers as part of the creation of six centers of excellence at the hospital. "The success we have achieved over the past few years is directly attributable to Harvey's skills in identifying, retaining and recruiting many of our most successful faculty," said hospital CEO Christopher Dawes. These new arrivals joined many of Cohen's former trainees and longtime colleagues already on the faculty.
Cohen admitted that there was one aspect of the job that he did not enjoy: Managing what has increasingly become a chronic bed shortage. It was a tough position for a man devoted to ensuring quality care for all. Although the space issues will be somewhat alleviated by the current phase-1 construction, Cohen foresees an ongoing need for new beds as more families and referring physicians demand pediatric-specific care for sick children.
"We want to be able to take care of any child in the community who needs us," Cohen said. The ability to provide that comprehensive coverage while also expanding clinical offerings and providing top-notch medical education for future generations of doctors was made even more complicated by the substantial effect of managed care on academic medical centers, he said.
What makes it easier for Cohen to step down is that he has encouraged and supported others to take independent leadership roles at the hospital. "Harvey is very skilled at maintaining a 'hands-off' approach when he sees that a program is working well," said his colleague, neonatologist Philip Sunshine, MD. "When he started he immediately instituted a program for associate chairs and hired a director of the residency program. He solicited a lot of input rather than making unilateral decisions."
In fact, Cohen's willingness to take advice is what launched him into medicine. His professors at Brooklyn College, impressed by his desire to "do something relevant," encouraged him to pursue a medical degree to complement his love of biochemistry. When he was accepted into Duke's MD/PhD program, from which he graduated in 1970, he found that he enjoyed clinical medicine as much as he did research.
"I realized I would have to compromise," said Cohen. "I couldn't spend all my time on both medicine and research. But I felt it was extremely important to have individuals who could act as translators to bridge the gap between the two professions." He settled on pediatrics not just because he likes kids. "I also liked all the pediatricians that I'd met," he said, "and their combination of science and humanism. I've never been disappointed with my choice."
Although Cohen professes that he will miss the mentoring and recruiting of faculty, residents and students, he's excited about his upcoming sabbatical in the laboratories of Richard Zare, PhD, and Rob Tibshirani, PhD, where he'll be using the latest techniques in comparative proteomics to devise new ways to diagnose and treat pediatric diseases. They'd better prepare themselves.
"A well-known aspect of Harvey's persona is his loving bear hugs," said Pizzo. "Whenever Harvey greets someone, his arms are extended and enveloping." While Pizzo knows that it's a genuine expression of Cohen's "caring and compassionate" nature, he recalled that as interns together 36 years ago, he wondered whether recipients would be troubled by such ebullience from a lean, dark-haired young man with sideburns and a moustache. Not to worry now. "Times have changed, and Harvey's appearance is much more cuddly," said Pizzo. "Giving hugs is something that Harvey has grown into—and it suits him very well."
And it is a talent Cohen intends to continue to put to use. The annual hospital holiday party is approaching, and young patients and their families, not to mention the hospital staff, will be in need of some good hugs. Besides, that Santa suit is calling. . . .
