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Howard A. Cohen, MD, Joins Temple as Director of the Institute of Interventional Medicine
Howard A. Cohen, MD, has been appointed Director of Interventional Cardiology and the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at Temple University Hospital, and Director of the Institute of Interventional Medicine and Professor of Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine. Dr. Cohen comes to Temple from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, NY, where he was Director of the Division of Cardiac Intervention, and Co-Director of Cardiovascular Interventional Laboratories.
Board certified in Cardiology, Dr. Cohen is a recognized pioneer in the area of interventional cardiology. He was one of the first cardiologists to perform angioplasty in the United States and is one of the most experienced physicians in the country in radial artery access for diagnostic and interventional procedures. In radial artery access, or the transradial approach, physicians use the radial artery in the wrist as the entry point for cardiac catheterization. The transradial approach offers several advantages, including fewer complications than procedures performed using the femoral artery, a simpler healing process because the radial artery is so close to the skin surface, and patients are able to sit up and walk almost immediately. Dr. Cohen has performed thousands of procedures using radial artery access over the past 15 years.
Dr. Cohen is also well known world-wide for his work with the TandemHeart®, the most powerful percutaneous left ventricular assist device currently available that can support the heart in a variety of critical circumstances, such as in high-risk angioplasty, cardiogenic shock, as well as acute and chronic severe valvular and myocardial disease. Prior to the TandemHeart®, patients required open heart surgery for implantation of an assist device to achieve a high level of support.
"I am excited about the new leadership at Temple and their commitment to excellence and developing a cardiovascular program that's second to none," said Dr. Cohen.
Dr. Cohen, a cum laude graduate of Yale College, received his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine training at NYU Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital in New York. Thereafter, Dr. Cohen received his cardiology fellowship training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore before serving two years as a staff cardiologist at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Following his military service, Dr. Cohen joined the Pacific Heart Institute in Santa Monica, California, where he was the Director of Interventional Cardiology and the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories as well as Chief of Staff at St. John's Hospital. Subsequently, he was recruited to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he served as Director of Clinical Cardiology. For the past eight years, Dr. Cohen has been the Director of Cardiovascular Intervention and Co-Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
Dr. Cohen's other clinical and research interests include improving patient outcomes with radial artery access, high-risk angioplasty, cardiogenic shock, reperfusion injury and myocardial infarction size reduction, and structural heart disease intervention.
Since its inception, Dr. Cohen has been the program director for the internationally acclaimed "Principles and Perspectives in Interventional Cardiology" annual event. He has made numerous original contributions to the medical literature, and has served as an editorial consultant for major peer review journals. Dr. Cohen has also served on the medical advisory boards of multiple companies involved in the development of new devices in the field of interventional cardiology.
Dr. Cohen has received multiple honors and recognitions for his clinical and teaching skills, including being regularly elected by his peers to "Best Doctors in America" as well as "Best Doctors in New York City." He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions, as well as a member of the American Heart Association's Council of Clinical Cardiology, and a charter member of the International Andreas Gruentzig Society.
For more information or to schedule an appointment with a Temple physician, call 1-800-TEMPLE-MED (1-800-836-7536).
Date Published: Tuesday, October 02, 2012
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