Cohen was born on September 28, 1944, in Brockton, Massachusetts, where he showed a predilection for science at an early age.
He attended Harvard College as an undergraduate, earning his degree in 1966, and four years later graduated from the Georgetown University School of Medicine.
[2] Cohen was a dedicated advocate of the idea that the aged are capable of functioning at high levels of creativity and intellectual rigor.
According to Dr. Walter Reich, a colleague at George Washington University, "Single-handedly he changed the image of aging from one of senescence to a period of creativity.
Among his other contributions to his field, he helped found two journals on geriatric psychiatry, served as president of the Gerontological Society of America, and appeared on television programs as an expert on aging and with George Burns in Public Service Announcements.