Lauren E. Cohn, MD

Lauren Cohn, MD, is a pulmonologist who specializes in asthma, from mild cases to the most severe and complicated ones, and in the use of biologic drugs for severe asthma. She also cares for patients with other complex airway diseases and refractory cough.

Dr. Cohn has always had a deep passion for science and immunology, and when she became a physician, she wanted to apply her interests to respiratory diseases. “I worked in the laboratory doing research on the immunology of asthma using animal models for most of my career,” she says. As an immunologist, she had a special interest in inflammation and cytokines (substances secreted by certain immune system cells and have an effect on other cells). She has made major contributions to understanding the biological pathways that contribute to asthma.

But she found caring for patients with asthma has different rewards. “I like the intensity of pulmonary medicine because you work with complex patients and because of the potential positive impact that treatment can have,” she says. “Respiratory issues have a higher impact on life in general, so treatment can make an impressive difference in our patients’ lives.”

In addition to caring for Yale Medicine patients, Dr. Cohn is co-director of the Yale Center for Asthma and Airway Diseases at Yale and director of Biologics and Advanced Therapeutics for Airway Diseases at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. She also conducts clinical research on the impact of various therapies in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).