COHEN, HENRY, BARON

COHEN, HENRY, BARON (1900–1977), British physician. Cohen, who was born in Birkenhead, became one of Britain's leading medical administrators and was involved in the establishment of the country's National Health Service. He was professor of medicine at Liverpool University from 1934 to 1965, and his contributions to the practice of medicine, particularly in the field of diagnosis, gained him an international reputation. His innumerable appointments to medical and allied bodies included the presidency of the British Medical Association, the General Medical Council, the Royal Society of Health, and the Royal Society of Medicine. He was made a baron in 1956. In 1973 Lord Cohen resigned as president of the General Medical Council, a position which he had held since 1961, on account of ill health. He was made a Companion of Honor in the 1974 New Year's Honors List for services to medicine. In 1970 he was appointed chancellor of Hull University. Lord Cohen was active in the affairs of the Liverpool Jewish community; he was on the council of the Anglo-Jewish Association and a governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His published lectures include New Pathways in Medicine (1935), Nature, Method, and Purpose of Diagnosis (1943), Evolution of Modern Medicine (1958), and Sherrington: Physiologist, Philosopher, and Poet (1958). He also contributed many papers on biological, neurological, and other medical subjects.