Susan L. Cohn, MD, is a highly respected expert in pediatric cancers and blood diseases. She is a leading authority on neuroblastoma, a cancer of nerve cells and the most common type of cancer found in infants.
Dr. Cohn is actively researching several aspects of neuroblastoma. She leads clinical trials for children with newly diagnosed neuroblastoma and is also one of the few pediatric oncologists in the United States who is conducting Phase I clinical trials of promising treatments for patients with relapsed disease. Her team has established the only 131I-meta-iodobenzlyguanidine (MIBG) treatment program in Illinois. She also is conducting research in the laboratory focused on developing more effective treatments for children with this aggressive cancer.
Dr. Cohn’s research has received generous support from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Dr. Cohn has held several leadership positions in national pediatric cooperative clinical research groups, including serving as the first chair of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Neuroblastoma Disease Committee. She is the co-Chair of the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group (INRG) Task Force, and a past member of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and was ASCO Treasurer from 2012-2015. She currently serves on ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation Board of Directors and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation Board of Directors. In 2016, she received the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Pediatric Oncology Award, and in 2019, she received the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Joseph H. Burchenal Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research.
A prolific author, Dr. Cohn has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, several book chapters, and has co-edited two books. She also serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Pediatric Blood and Cancer.
Dr. Cohn has been selected as a top doctor by Chicago magazine and Top Cancer Doctor by Newsweek and Castle Connolly.