BIOGRAPHY

    Jay S. Cohen, M.D. is a nationally recognized expert on medications and side effects.  As an Adjunct (voluntary) Associate Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine and of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Cohen's work has been featured in newspapers and magazines across America.  These include the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, Consumer Reports, Wall Street Journal, Modern Majority, Women's Day, and many others.  Dr. Cohen has appeared on more than 100 radio programs including National Public Radio, the People's Pharmacy, and the Gary Null show.

    Dr. Cohen is a long-time critic of the drug industry's marketing of stronger and stronger drugs with cookbook, often one-size-fits-all doses.  He argues that medication doses should be adjusted for patients' size, age, states of health, or use of other medications.  Dr. Cohen's best known book, critically acclaimed Over Dose: The Case Against The Drug Companies (Tarcher/Putnam), challenged drug company policies and their terrible results: each year, more than 106,000 deaths and 1,000,000 hospitalizations due to prescription drugs.

    Dr. Cohen has presented his independent research on making medications safer as a featured speaker at major medical conferences.  In 2002, as keynote speaker at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration conference, he presented his findings and debated with the FDA's top medication experts.  In his books and medical journal articles, and on his MedicationSense website, Dr. Cohen warned about problems with antidepressants such as Prozac and Paxil, anti-inflammatory drugs such as Celebrex and Bextra, and hormones such as Premarin and Prempro.  Subsequently, each of these drugs became a national concern when serious new toxicities were revealed.

    Dr. Cohen is not anti-medication.  Medications help millions of people, but many others are harmed unnecessarily.  Side effects also force millions of people from the treatment they need.  Dr. Cohen's solutions would end many of these problems.

    Dr. Cohen is a strong advocate of patients' rights of informed consent.  This includes a right for information on all serious side effects before being prescribed a new medication.  Patients also should be informed about lower, safer, effective doses of medications -- information that most patients and doctors do not receive today.  Flexible dosing is the key to reducing the high rate of side effects from prescription drugs.  Dr. Cohen's goal is to maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks of medication treatment.

Copyright 2008, Jay S. Cohen, M.D. All rights reserved. Readers have permission to copy and disseminate all or part of these articles if it is clearly identified as the work of: Jay S. Cohen, M.D., the MedicationSense E-Newsletter, www.MedicationSense.com. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

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NOTE TO READERS: The purpose of this E-Letter is solely informational and educational. The information herein should not be considered to be a substitute for the direct medical advice of your doctor, nor is it meant to encourage the diagnosis or treatment of any illness, disease, or other medical problem by laypersons. If you are under a physician's care for any condition, he or she can advise you whether the information in this E-Letter is suitable for you. Readers should not make any changes in drugs, doses, or any other aspects of their medical treatment unless specifically directed to do so by their own doctors.

Copyright 2008, Jay S. Cohen, M.D. All rights reserved.

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