Robert Cohen

Rob Cohen is a seasoned clinical nephrologist, educator, and curriculum innovator in the nephrology division. He received his AB from Brown, MD from Temple and MSc from Harvard School of Public Health. After completing a residency at University of Michigan, he was a nephrology fellow at Beth Israel and subsequently an epidemiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He was recently a Gold Humanism Scholar at the Harvard Macy Institute. Rob’s area of expertise is the intersection of palliative care and nephrology, with a focus on communication skills for challenging conversations with patients and family members in the setting of advanced kidney disease. Over a decade ago he created one of the first communication skills courses for nephrology fellows. Conducted annually for all Harvard nephrology trainees, this full-day course has been endowed by a donor. He has also developed a framework for discussing kidney failure options with older, frail patients and has co-created a curriculum that teaches nephrology fellows about conservative care that was piloted at 19 ACGME nephrology training programs. As a result of his expertise, he has presented nationally at ASN Kidney Week, NKF Clinical Meetings, and has been invited to deliver nephrology, palliative care and medical grand rounds at numerous academic medical centers throughout the country. He has also developed and conducted communication skills courses for nephrology and palliative care fellows at numerous academic medical centers nationally. He is the Director of Education in the nephrology division and also directs the HMS nephrology elective and medicine elective in nephrology at BIDMC. Lupus nephritis, kidney stones, and chronic kidney disease are Rob’s area of clinical expertise. He has over 25 peer reviewed publications in such journals as Nature, NEJM, JASN, CJASN, and AJKD.

Clinical Interests

• General Nephrology
• Lupus Nephritis
• Glomerulonephritis
• Nephrolithiasis (Stone Disease)
• Dialysis decision-making
• Palliative care issues in Nephrology

Education

Medical School: Temple University School of Medicine

Internship/Residency: University of Michigan Hospitals

Fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center