[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S13940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING DR. DONALD J. COHEN

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, today I honor Dr. Donald J. 
Cohen, a doctor, an author, an outstanding psychiatrist, a true 
professional, and caregiver and friend to the thousands of people who 
had the good fortune of knowing him. Today I grieve for my friend, as 
he recently passed away after only 61 short years on this Earth. I 
could think of no better tribute to this great man than to name the 
very program he envisioned so many years ago to help the victims of 
violence-related stress in his honor. Thus, I submitted an amendment to 
the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill to amend 
Section 582 of the Public Health Service Act to rename this critically 
important grant program, the ``Donald J. Cohen National Child Traumatic 
Stress Initiative.'' I am proud to say that this amendment has been 
accepted by both the House and Senate and for that I thank my 
colleagues.
  Dr. Cohen did more in his 61 years than most anyone else could ever 
hope to accomplish in a lifetime. He started at Brandeis University in 
1961 on the course to a medical career and then went on to graduate 
from Yale University School of Medicine in 1966. Over the following 35 
years, Dr. Cohen dedicated his life to helping children and 
adolescents. Donald spent virtually all of his adult life working 
tirelessly to develop and promote programs to assist children. I 
recently learned from my colleague, Senator Dodd, that Dr. Cohen was 
the first person to suggest a special health insurance program for 
children that ultimately became the Childrens' Health Insurance 
Program. Today, this program throughout the Nation provides health care 
for millions of children who would otherwise go without the basic care 
they need to grow up healthy and flourish.
  Dr. Cohen was a well-respected and world-renowned physician and 
teacher. Over the course of his illustrious career, he held many 
faculty positions at the Yale University School of Medicine, 
culminating with his appointment as the child Psychiatrist-in-Chief of 
the Yale Children's Hospital and Director of the Child Study Center at 
Yale School of Medicine. He held these positions for the past 18 years, 
which, as anyone in medicine will tell you, is an incredible testimony 
to his stature and leadership.
  He has been honored by the Institute of Medicine, the National 
Academy of Sciences, the National Commission on Children, and the 
American Psychiatric association for his outstanding work. He received 
numerous lifetime research awards, including the Strecker Award from 
the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital and the Agnes Purcell 
McGavin Award for Prevention from the APA. He was recognized as a 
Sterling Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology. He 
served as President of the International Association of Child and 
Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions since 1993 and published 
over 300 papers and books. Dr. Cohen was also awarded a Doctor of 
Philosophy, Honoris Causa, from the Bar Ilan University in Israel.
  As you can see, Dr. Donald Cohen was quite a remarkable man. So many 
people have been touched in some way by this great man's dedication.
  It can be said that Dr. Cohen indeed achieved what most of us strive 
for, to make a difference. For those of us who knew him, for those of 
us in whose life Donald made a difference, his passing comes painfully 
too soon. We mourn and pray that Donald's soul will be embraced in the 
warmth of eternal life and that God will comfort and strengthen 
Phyllis, his wife, their children and grandchildren, and all of the 
family, friends, colleagues and patients who will miss him. I know the 
spirit and warmth of Dr. Donald J. Cohen will burn on in the hearts of 
those who grieve him. It is with spirit that I ask my colleagues to 
honor this man with the dedication of the Donald J. Cohen National 
Child Traumatic Stress Initiative.

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