DR. JONATHAN COHEN

DEER ISLE – Jonathan Cohen, 88, a world renowned orthopedic surgeon, died Nov. 13, 2003, after a short illness in Deer Isle. He was a resident of Spruce Head since 1973, where he had lived part of each after a distinguished career that spanned surgery, writing and editing major medical journals and serving as a teacher and researcher who pioneered many of the changes in the last half century in orthopedic care. Dr. Cohen was born in 1915 in New York City and graduated from New York University, where he received his B.A. in 1933. He received his M.D. from St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1938 and spent a three-year residency there preceding his service as an Army physician from 1941-46. He was instrumental in the formation of a portable surgical hospital in the Japanese theatre of the war and performed hundreds of complicated surgeries on soldiers who had been injured on over two dozen islands in the Pacific campaign. These forerunners of mobile (MASH) units later popularized on television were developed by Dr. Cohen and his Harvard colleagues who were assigned to the 105th General Hospital. Within ninety minutes, these hospitals could be completely dismantled and transported to other islands, where injuries were expected due to impending battle despite the often-cited lack of X-rays, blood, lighting, oxygen, antibiotics and painkillers. Among those whom he treated during the war were: Charles A. Lindbergh, for a broken collar bone, and General Douglas McArthur, for a wound to his leg. Post-war, he was a trained pathologist and orthopedic surgeon at Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. At the conclusion of these residencies he was appointed to the staff of Children’s and Harvard Medical School. He taught and practiced there for 17 years, Dr. Cohen authored or co-authored 110 refereed papers and articles in the bone and skeletal domain for dozens of leading journals. He was very active in the creation of The Jimmy Fund, a non-profit institution dedicated to children’s critical care. Starting in 1950, Dr. Cohen inaugurated research that proved instrumental in establishing a critical foundation in the analysis of chemicals and bones. Teaming with colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he studied the effects of radioisotopes that concentrate in bones (such as radium, thorium, radon and uranium) which became major health concerns in the aftermath of nuclear testing and plant accidents. The other was the development of materials that would be suitable for inclusion in prostheses, such as cobalt, chromium, steel and titanium. He was the owner of over three hundred patents of such devices that are now commonly used in patients. Because the body well tolerated these compounds, Dr. Cohen and his colleagues helped popularize total joint replacement for millions of patients worldwide who were incapacitated due to fractures, arthritis or musculoesketal afflictions. Over the past five decades he made major contributions as a writer and then editor of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. He transferred from the Harvard faculty to teach at the Tufts University School of Medicine and Franciscan Children’s Hospital Rehabilitation Center in Brookline, Mass., where he remained active in research and clinical practice until 2001. Dr. Cohen was active in various scientific organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery, American Society for Metals and he spoke at more than 120 medical and scientific conferences during his career. Dr. Cohen leaves his widow, Louise Alden Cohen of Deer Isle; and four stepchildren, Robin Alden of Stonington, Abigail Alden of Camden, Eliza Alden of Exton, Pa., and Stephen Proskauer of Salt Lake City, Utah. Arrangements were privately held this week, and in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Deer Isle Nursing Home, 587 N. Deer Isle Road, Deer Isle ME 04627.