Mitchell B. Cohen

Mitchell Cohen, MD, a national leader in pediatric medicine and an internationally renowned specialist in children’s digestive disorders, is chair of the UAB Department of Pediatrics in the University of Alabama School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of Children’s of Alabama. Cohen is a former professor of pediatrics, vice-chair for clinical affairs, and director of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He was chosen after a national search considered candidates from some of the country’s most prestigious institutions. Cohen succeeded Sergio Stagno, MD, who announced in September 2013 his intention to step down as chair and physician-in-chief after serving in those roles since 1988. The UAB Department of Pediatrics has more than 170 faculty members and trains more than 100 residents for careers in primary care and pediatric subspecialties. Children’s of Alabama, with its new Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children, had nearly 14,000 hospital discharges and 660,000 outpatient visits in 2013. Cohen is a native of New York, N.Y., and completed medical school at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and pediatric residency training at Johns Hopkins. In 1983 he began a three-year fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati and joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as an instructor. He became director of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in 2005 and vice-chair of the Department of Pediatrics in 2009. From 2002 to 2004 he served as president of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and received the organization’s Shwachman Award in 2013 for lifelong scientific contributions.