Board Members

Irving A. Cohen, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M

Doctor Cohen currently serves as Chair of the Advisory Board. He resides in Topeka and is retired from clinical practice. His interest in health problems resulting from the Persian Gulf War dates to about 1993 while a physician at the Colmery-O'Neill VAMC in Topeka. At that time, he recognized a pattern of problems experienced by Veterans who had been exposed to various substances during Operation Desert Storm.

        Dr. Cohen is a Veteran, having served in the Air Force on Active Duty from 1961 through 1965 and in the Reserve from 1965 through 1967. He attained the rank of Sergeant. Doctor Cohen also held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as a Medical Officer in the New York Guard in 1991. This is a State Reserve unit functioning as a backup to the NY Army National Guard in times of need.

         Doctor Cohen's background includes a variety of both clinical and Public Health experiences. He has been in private practice and has served as the Director or Medical Director of several addiction treatment centers.  He was Deputy Director of what is now the Research Institute on Addiction of the State University of New York at Buffalo. He served as a Chief Resident of Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Doctor Cohen also recently completed a Fellowship in Medical Humanities at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City.

         Doctor Cohen is a Fellow of the American Board of Preventive Medicine as well as of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.