Jay Cohn, M.D.

Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division
Director, Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, University of Minnesota

Dr. Cohn is internationally recognized for his contributions to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and for his leadership in designing and carrying out clinical trials to document efficacy of new interventions for heart failure. He has pioneered in assessment of cardiovascular function in patients with hypertension, shock, acute myocardial infarction and heart failure. He was the first to advocate vasodilator therapy for heart failure, including nitroprusside, nitrates with hydralazine and converting enzyme inhibitors. He organized and chaired the first long-term trials in heart failure, the Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study Program on vasodilator therapy of heart failure (V-HeFT).

Dr. Cohn was one of the first to advocate bedside hemodynamic monitoring in acutely ill individuals and was the first to identify the syndrome of right ventricular infarction. He was among the first to identify neurohormonal activation as a key contributor to the progression of heart failure and to set the stage for neurohormonal inhibiting therapy. His animal and clinical studies have established the importance of structural remodeling of the left ventricle as the basis for the progression of heart failure and for the therapeutic response to drugs that prolong life and reduce long-term morbidity. In recent years he has focused on efforts at early identification of cardiovascular disease in order to initiate therapy before organ system disease develops. His innovative efforts at early detection have included screening to diagnose stiffening of the small arteries, utilizing a methodology he developed at the University of Minnesota which is now FDA-approved and marketed worldwide.

Medical School: Cornell University, New York, New York

Residency: Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Fellowship: Georgetown University Veterans’ Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Clinical Interests: Heart failure management

Research Interests: Noninvasive detection of early vascular and cardiac disease

Professional Organizations: American College of Physicians (Fellow), American Federation for Clinical Research, American Heart Association (Fellow); Council on Circulation; Council on High Blood, Pressure Research (Medical Advisory Board); Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences, American Heart Association, Minnesota Affiliate (Board of Directors, 1979-85), American Physiological Society (Circulation Group), American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, American Society of Hypertension, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, American Association for the Advancement of Science (Fellow), Association of American Physicians, Association of University Cardiologists, Central Society for Clinical Research, Heart Failure Society of America, International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences (Fellow), International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy, International Society of Hypertension.