Cohen, Ethel, 1887-1977

Ethel Cohen, medical social worker, was born on May 25, 1892, in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Rose Myra (Titelbaum) and Herman Cohen. She grew up in Chelsea, Massachusetts; after the Chelsea Fire of 1908 the family moved to Dorchester but Cohen continued to attend Chelsea High School, graduating in June 1909. She was graduated from Radcliffe College in 1913 with a BA degree (Cum Laude) in German. After taking a business course at the Chandler Normal Shorthand School (1914) she worked as a stenographer for professors at Harvard University; the Department of Archaeology at Phillips Academy, Andover; and the law firm of Crocker and Dutch. From 1921 to 1927 she was a medical social worker for the American Red Cross and on the staff of the Chelsea Naval Hospital. In 1928 she was graduated from Simmons College School of Social Work with a MS degree in Medical Social Work; her thesis was A Study of One Hundred and Thirty Two Clients with Chronic and Incurable Diseases Known to the Federated Jewish Charities, Boston, Massachusetts, October 1, 1926 to September 30, 1927.

From 1928 to 1949 she first organized and then served as director of the Social Service Department at Beth Israel Hospital (BIH-SSD), Boston. During that time she held faculty appointments at Simmons College School of Social Work (1936-1949) and Tufts Medical College (1934-1949); served as a medical social consultant to the United States Children's Bureau to assist in the initiation of the Rheumatic Fever Program (1940); as a regional medical social consultant to nine western states and two territories, also for the Children's Bureau (1943-1944); and as a special consultant to the Department of Medicine and Surgery, Research and Education Service of the Veterans' Administration, involved in their residency training program (1949-1952).

After resigning as director of Social Service Department at Beth Israel Hospital, Cohen continued to serve there as a consultant. In 1952 she was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship to study at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This was followed in November 1952 by an invitation from the Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel to do a study of their medical program in relation to social service to patients. Other consulting positions included studies for The Boston Lying-In Hospital (1953); the Community Health Project, Harvard School of Public Health (1954); Blythedale, an institution for orthopedically handicapped children, Valhalla, New York (1954); United Community Services of Metropolitan Boston, Health Division (1955); Fordham University School of Social Service (1955); Free Hospital for Women, Brookline, Massachusetts (1955); National Association of Social Workers (1956, 1958); Baerwald School of Social Welfare, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (1962-1963); Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston (1963); and St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Social Service Department, Brighton, Massachusetts (1965).

During August and September 1976 Cohen was interviewed for the William E. Wiener Oral History Library of the American Jewish Committee; a typed transcript of those interviews is in the Schlesinger Library (OH/26 Cohen.)

Ethel Cohen died on May 6, 1977 shortly before her 85th birthday; she was buried in Adath Jerusalem Cemetery, West Roxbury, Massachusetts.