Lawrence H. Cohn, MD, was born on March 11, 1937, in San Francisco, California and died on January 9, 2016.
He was an American-born pioneering cardiac surgeon, researcher, and medical educator.
Lawrence had been on the surgical staff at Harvard Medical School since 1971 and has been a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School since 1980.
In 2000,Lawrence was awarded the first endowed Chair in Cardiac Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Lawrence received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley with honors in 1958.
In 1962, he received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine with distinction
He was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha.
Lawrence received his graduate medical training from 1962 to 1971 at Boston City Hospital/Harvard, the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, the University of California at San Francisco and the Stanford University School of Medicine.
During his time at Stanford University, he trained with pioneering heart surgeon, Dr. Norman E. Shumway.
While he worked at Harvard Medical School, he was the Assistant Professor of Surgery from 1971 to 1975, Associate Professor of Surgery from 1975 to 1980, Professor of Surgery since 1980, and was awarded the first endowed Virginia and James Hubbard Chair in Cardiac Surgery in 2000.
Mr.Cohn was awarded an honorary Masters of Medicine from Harvard in 1989 and a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Paris in 1992.
Lawrence was the recipient of the Paul Dudley White Award, the highest award given by the American Heart Association, in 2005.
Mr.Cohn has toiled as the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 1987 to 2005 and as Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Training Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Children’s Hospital Medical Center from 1987 to 2000.
He served as Chair of the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization (BWPO), from 2000 to 2004,
Before his death, Cohn serves as Physician Director of Medical Device Technology for Partners HealthCare Systems and is the Chair of the Physician and Scientist Fundraising Program (PSFP) at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
His work was detailed in his field, he has performed over 11,000 cardiac surgical operations, Lawrence was an expert in the field of heart valve repair and replacement surgery and minimally invasive heart valve surgery.
Dr.Cohn has published over 440 original scientific articles, 105 book chapters and 12 books, including Cardiac Surgery in the Adult, the most referenced book in adult cardiac surgery today.
Lawrence H. Cohn passed away at 78 yrs old.