Disclaimer: The following information is drawn from materials prepared by candidates for promotion to associate professor in one of the scholarship-requiring tracks (RS and CS). It is intended to illustrate activities and materials that might support promotion. In using these materials, please note the following: *The Provost (and, in some cases, the President) are the University officers authorized to approve promotions. All levels of review below these officers are advisory. *Only Departments are empowered to propose promotions, and the Divisional Dean is charged with transmitting such proposals to the Provost or returning them to the Department. *The judgment of the Department, Dean, and Provost will therefore be critical to assessing qualification for promotion. *Materials considered by the Department, Dean, and Provost will also (and always) include confidential evaluations obtained from outside the University. Materials considered by the Provost will include the confidential evaluations of the Dean and Department, and those considered by the Dean will include the confidential evaluations of the Department. *Thus, the following materials are ONLY PART of a complete proposal for promotion, whereas promotion is based on the ENTIRE proposal. Therefore, it should not be assumed that a record comparable to that below will necessarily result in promotion, or that a record not comparable to that below will fail to result in promotion. The Departmental Chair is likely to be the best source of advice as to whether promotion is feasible and, when it is not, what additional activity may result in qualification for promotion. *This document has been prepared as a tool for use by assistant professors in the Division of the Biological Sciences. Other individuals who may find it informative are Department Chairmen, Section Heads, Committee Chairmen, senior faculty and potential recruits. Its intent is to help guide individuals and their departments as they think about promotion to Professor. This document is not intended to list the elements that every promotion proposal will be expected to address. The following information is presented for information purposes only and is not intended to create any contract or agreement, and its contents are subject to addition, deletion, and change without prior notice.
Name:		Ronald N. Cohen, M.D.

Department of Primary Appointment:

Medicine

Secondary appointments:

Committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition Committee on Molecular Medicine

Proposed rank:

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Proposed track:

CLINICAL SCHOLAR

LAY SUMMARY:

Dr. Cohen studies the roles of nuclear cofactors, particularly nuclear corepressors NCoR and SMRT, in endocrine function. Cells use proteins called transcriptional regulators to control which genes are transcribed (and, therefore, which proteins a cell can express). Transcription (making RNA from DNA) can be turned on (by a positive regulator) or turned off (the action of a negative regulator) by transcriptional regulators. In addition, another class of proteins called co-regulators modify the behavior of transcriptional regulators. Most coregulator proteins modify the three dimensional structure of the complex of DNA and protein in the nucleus (called chromatin) to make transcriptional regulators (either positive or negative) more or less active. SMRT and NCoR are corepressors--they make transcription of genes less likely. Needless to say the biology is quite complicated with protein expression variously being augmented or biased against based on the balance of expression of regulators and coregulators and their presence in the nucleus. In endocrine cells (which include among others cells in the thyroid, the pituitary, and fat cells, i.e. adipocytes) the expression of transcriptional regulators, co-regulators, and proteins that bind to them or modify them to restrict them from the nucleus is controlled by metabolic state, i.e. whether one has just eaten, is hungry, starved, or under stress (higher than "normal" hormone levels).

Dr. Cohen has made three important discoveries. First, he showed that NCoR contains a domain not present in SMRT, which is important in mediating the function of the thyroid hormone receptor (a receptor that is important for regulating and responding to metabolic state). Next, he showed that NCoR and SMRT decrease the expression of adipocyte genes during adipocyte differentiation and alter the ability of cells to respond to thiazolidinedione medications (to potentially control how many and how active one's fat cells are). Finally, he showed that altered coactivator recruitment to pituitary transcription factors is a cause of congenital pituitary defects. The pituitary gland is a small set of cells in the brain that controls many hormones in the body, including growth hormone, prolactin, and endorphins, among others.

In addition to his scientific contributions, Dr. Cohen has designed a novel curriculum for teaching Endocrine fellows and helped design and teach two new undergraduate courses on endocrine physiology and pathophysiology (see letter from Dr. Quintans, Master). Dr. Cohen also has an active clinical practice that focuses on thyroid disease, predominantly hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer, and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Finally, Dr. Cohen guides the clinical teaching of Endocrinology fellows as Attending Physician in the Endocrine Fellows' continuity clinic.

Awards and Honors:

1998, 2001 Endocrine Society, Travel Grant Awards

2004 University of Chicago DRTC Poster Presentation Award

2006 Oral Session Chair, Regulation of Food Intake and Body Weight, The Endocrine

Society Meeting, June 2006

Society Memberships:

Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society

The Endocrine Society

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Central Society for Clinical Research

Editorial Boards:

2005 – present Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

2005 – present Editorial Review Group Chair in Endocrinology, Doody

Publishing

Ad Hoc Reviewer:

Diabetes

Endocrinology

Hormone Research

Journal of Clinical Investigation

Journal of Molecular Endocrinology

Journal of Biological Chemistry

Life Sciences

Molecular and Cellular Biology

Thyroid

PRESENTATIONS

Endocrine Society, Scientific Sessions (Thyroid, Retinoid, and Orphan Receptors), "Preferential Binding of Corepressors to Specific Nuclear Receptors is Mediated by Distinct Amino Acid Residues," 2000.

Sixth International Workshop in Resistance to Thyroid Hormone, "Corepressors," September 14, 2003, Florida.

Division of Endocrinology, University of Illinois at Chicago, "Role of corepressors in adipogenesis," June 1, 2004.

Seventh International Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Conference (Sponsored by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association), “Papillary and Follicular Thyroid Cancer: Treatment and Testing after Surgery and in the First Years,” October 23, 2004, Illinois.

Seminars in Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University, “Role of nuclear receptor corepressors in adipogenesis,” November 11, 2004.

Serono GHMonitors Investigators’ Meeting, “Update on Genetic Regulation of Pituitary Development,” Invited Speaker, May, 2005.

Division of Endocrinology, University of Southern California, “Role of corepressors in adipogenesis,” January 31, 2006.

Division of Endocrinology, University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, “Role of corepressors in adipogenesis,” February 21, 2006 (Stark Lecture).

American College of Physicians Annual Meeting, “Multiple Small Feedings of the Mind – Thyroid Disease,” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 7, 2006.

Division of Endocrinology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, “Role of corepressors in adipogenesis,” April 14, 2006.

North American Association for the Study of Obesity, The Obesity Society, Annual Scientific Meeting, planned for October 2006, “The Role of SMRT and NCOR on PPARg Activation” (Invited Speaker).