Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D. has forever changed the field of geriatrics while successfully challenging misconceptions about aging as a lifestage of inevitable decline and loss.
His scientifically-derived conclusions and insights about aging brains are voluminous. His trendsetting research and thoughtful analyses are inspiring new industries. His influence will persist for generations as society evolves more optimistic models of the aging process.
A member of the Silent Generation at 65 (not quite a Leading-Edge Boomer by one year), Dr. Cohen passed away on Friday, November 6, 2009, after a brave, fourteen-year battle against prostate cancer.
For those in business and marketing, Dr. Cohen’s research and clinical observations provide exciting new insights into aging, while creating vast opportunities for new products and services and reframing outdated societal myths.
Here are a few of Dr. Cohen’s salient observations—insights not derived from wishful thinking or overly idealized beliefs, but from rock-hard scientific research, much of it emanating from the field of neuroscience:
1. Contrary to popular myth, brain cells do not stop forming after adolescence; growing new brain cells is a lifelong phenomenon.
2. The brain's ability to grow new neurons is a dramatic reason for optimism about the brain’s potential in the second half of life.
3. Older brains can learn new things, and they are actually better than younger brains at many types of intellectual tasks.
4. The brain and mental capacity continue to grow throughout life.
5. As humans age, we use both hemispheres of the brain more efficiently; the brain becomes vastly more creative as life progresses.
6. Adversity and loss that often accompany later-life actually encourage creativity by forcing change.
From the perspective of cognition, how do aging adults differ from younger adults? According to Dr. Cohen, aging brains become more adept in three forms of thinking:
• Relativistic thinking, where understanding is based on a synthesized combination of disparate views. Older adults abandon absolute truth in favor of more realistic relative truths.
• Dualist thinking, where contradictions in opposing views are uncovered and opposites are held in mind at the same time without judgment. In this way, opposing views can be accepted as valid.
• Systematic thinking allows the person to see the forest as well as the trees, rising above minutia to understand the bigger picture. The thinker is thus not trapped in personal and petty issues.
Throughout his long career, Dr. Cohen distinguished himself for his vision, kindness and unyielding commitment to the field of aging and improving health of older adults.
After graduating from Harvard College and Georgetown University School of Medicine, he began shaping the field of geriatrics through his work at the National Institute of Mental Health in the early 1970’s. He was the first chief of the Center on Aging and Director of the Program on Aging.
During his early years at NIMH, he took interest in minorities by supporting research on mental health of impoverished and homeless, leading to Medicare changes allowing for reimbursement of mental health services (beyond the original annual $250 limit).
He continued his commitment to biological, psychological and social issues in geriatric medicine at the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health where he served as Acting Director, helping grow the institute budget into the hundreds of millions and catapulting the field of aging into a global spotlight.
He authored over 150 publications in the field of aging including, The Creative Age: Awakening the Human Potential in the Second Half of Life, published in 2000 and most recently, The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain. The former book is groundbreaking in its revelations about creativity and aging.
Dr. Cohen also acted as the first director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University where he held positions of Professor of Health Care Sciences and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
His hobbies reflected his professional interests. A blossoming game inventor after age 50, Dr. Cohen demonstrated that creativity and untapped potential are possible for older adults. His most recent game, Making Memories Together, assists families and caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients.
As I prepared this tribute, I recalled that someone once snapped a photo of Dr. Cohen with me at a meeting of The Society, a global think-tank founded by esteemed author David B. Wolfe and focused on business, marketing and aging. This photo memory is a wonderful gift from Dr. Cohen to all of us dedicated to changing aging:
Do not go gently, indeed. This is a lasting message from a man who has dramatically influenced the profession of aging, instilling more clarity about the unique contributions of aging adults in an aging society, and he did so while fighting prostate cancer for fourteen years.
Bruce,
Thank you for your generous comments about Dr. Cohen and sharing how his work has influenced you and your writing. I'll look forward to seeing your book next spring. Goodness knows that in this economy Boomers and beyond need stories that can reignite passions so typical of our youth. Best of success.
Posted by: Brent Green | November 18, 2009 at 09:07 AM
Thank you, Brent, for a fine farewell to Dr. Cohen.
He was, as you note, not only a visionary proponent of creativity in later life, but an exemplar of what he called that "distinctly human quality that exists independent of age and time, reflecting a deeper dimension of energy capable of transforming our lives at any age." As if that weren't enough, he was a scientist with a clinically compassionate soul and an erudite mind with which he communicated without pretense as a leading public policy advocate on behalf of older Americans.
In my copy of "The Creative Age," the following passage is underlined in red: "Creativity doesn't protect us from life, it helps us engage more fully in it and helps us develop the opportunities inherent in life's challenges." Moreover, he believed in the universally human capacity for creative expression. "The challenge," he wrote, "is to recognize it and use it."
When I began writing my own book on later life achievement a couple of years ago, I was by turns intimidated and encouraged by Dr. Cohen and his path-blazing accomplishments. Today, I'm grateful that I listened to the research-based faith of his voice and not my own fears.
Sincerely,
Bruce Frankel
What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life? True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half of LIfe (Avery/Penguin - March 2010)
Posted by: Bruce Frankel | November 18, 2009 at 06:37 AM
Brent,
Thank-you for a wonderful tribute! Gene indeed was a visionary -- equally important in our evidenced-based world, he was also a meticulous scientist and researcher.
Gene's latest NEA sponsored longitudinal study provides the gold standard of evidence-based research that creativity has a positive impact on the health of older adults.
Gene's legacy of research continues through the Gene D. Cohen, MD, PhD, Research Award in Creative Aging, sponsored by the Gerontological Society of America and the National Center for Creative Aging. Readers that would like to see this important work continue can make a donation here http://creativeaging.squarespace.com/donate/
Sincerely,
Janice Blanchard, MSPH
Executive Board Member
National Ctr. for Creative Aging
Posted by: Janice Blanchard | November 09, 2009 at 10:11 PM