Stanley Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1922. Dr. Cohen studied both biology and chemistry as an undergraduate at Brooklyn College, and then pursued an M.A. in Zoology from Oberlin College in 1945, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Michigan in 1948.
While at Washington University in 1953, Dr. Cohen became associated with the Department of Zoology, where he joined with Rita Levi-Montalcini to isolate a Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) that Dr. Levi-Montalcini had discovered in certain mouse tumors. Dr. Cohen expanded on the study of growth factors when he went to Vanderbilt University in 1959 as an Assistant Professor in the Biochemistry Department. While in this role, he made critical discoveries exploring the chemistry and biology of epidermal growth factor (EGF), elucidating how the growth and differentiation of a cell is regulated.
Along with Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, Dr. Cohen was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Information as of 1987