Samuel M. Cohen, MD, PhD, ATS, is the recipient of the 2017 Society of Toxicology (SOT) Merit Award. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Cohen has made exemplary contributions to toxicology as a practicing pathologist, researcher, teacher and mentor, scientific writer, and scientific advisor on important issues at the intersection of science and public policy. His primary research focus has been on the mechanisms of toxicity and carcinogenesis related to human exposure to environmental chemicals and pharmaceuticals and the importance of that understanding for prediction of human risk of cancer from chemical exposure.
In a landmark proposal in 1981, Dr. Cohen established the role of cell proliferation in carcinogenesis as an alternative to DNA reactivity. Then in 1990, his seminal publication describing the role of cell proliferation for DNA reactive and non-DNA reactive carcinogens was published in Science. He used this theoretical approach to demonstrate that interaction of direct DNA damage and cell proliferation changes result in a complex dose response seen for liver and urinary bladder carcinogenesis by 2-acetylaminofluorene in the US Food and Drug Administration, National Center for Toxicological Research ED01 Study. The role of cell proliferation has subsequently been demonstrated for many other classes of chemicals and now is routinely used by regulatory agencies in evaluating mode of action and human relevance.
Dr. Cohen may be best known for his work on various aspects of urinary bladder carcinogenesis by establishing the first rodent two-stage bladder carcinogen model in rats. He and colleagues demonstrated that saccharin was a rat-specific carcinogen, leading to saccharin being the first chemical to be delisted from the US National Toxicology Program List of Carcinogens and also the first chemical down classified from 2B to 3 based on mechanistic understanding by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
During his career, Dr. Cohen has published more than 350 papers based on original research in peer-reviewed journals and has written nearly 50 book chapters with a focus on chemical carcinogenesis and inter-species extrapolations. A well-respected and accomplished scientific speaker, he has given hundreds of presentations both nationally and internationally.
He currently is a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Department of Pathology and Microbiology, as well as the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer. He also is staff pathologist with Nebraska Medicine, the Nebraska Orthopedics Hospital in Omaha, and the Bellevue Medical Center. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct professor to the Program on Toxicologic Pathology at São Paulo State University Medical School in Botucatu, Brazil.
Since joining SOT in 1986, he has served on the Awards Committee (2012‒2014) and as president of the Central States Regional Chapter (2004‒2005) and the Carcinogenesis Specialty Section (2002‒2003). He received the John Doull Medal from the Central States Regional Chapter in 1996, the SOT Arnold J. Lehman Award in 2001, and the 2016 Ambassador Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter.
Outside of SOT, Dr. Cohen received the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Toxicologic Pathology and the 2016 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Toxicology. He currently serves as a member of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS) Board of Directors.