Mitochondrial Myopathy

my·op·a·thy

The word “myopathy” means disease of the muscle tissue. As the term implies, mitochondrial myopathy (MM) is a neuromuscular disease caused by damage to the mitochondria. Many patients with mitochondrial disease have a mitochondrial myopathy, either as their sole diagnosis or as an additional, descriptive co-diagnosis as part of their mitochondrial disorder. Mitochondrial myopathy may be present in adults and children, and may occur with or without a genetic mitochondrial disease diagnosis. Further, several clinical trials are currently examining the impact of various therapies or potential treatments for people with mitochondrial myopathy.

Join us this month on Friday, November 20th at 12 pm EST with Dr. Bruce Cohen, Director of Pediatric Neurology and then the Director of the NeuroDevelopmental Science Center at Akron Children’s Hospital. Dr. Cohen is well-known and highly respected as an expert author, speaker, clinician and research investigator in mitochondrial disorders. Topics for this important discussion include:

• What is mitochondrial myopathy?
• How is it diagnosed?
• Are there treatments for mitochondrial myopathy? Other management strategies?
• What are the most common symptoms of mitochondrial myopathy?
• Who typically is diagnosed with mitochondrial myopathy?

Dr. Bruce H. Cohen attended college at Washington University in St. Louis and a BA in chemistry, graduating summa cum laude in 1978. He received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y. in 1982 and went on to his pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, followed by a residency in neurology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.  He then obtained a two-year American Cancer Society fellowship in neuro-oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  In 1989 Dr. Cohen joined the Cleveland Clinic’s department of Neurology, and served as chief of Pediatric Neurology from 1999-2002, with joint appointments in the Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Center, the Eepartment of Neurosurgery and the department of Pediatrics. In 2011, he joined Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron, Ohio, as Director of Pediatric Neurology and then the Director of the NeuroDevelopmental Science Center.   He serves in many leadership roles within Akron Children’s Hospital.

His specialty interests include adult and pediatric neuro-oncology, mitochondrial medicine, neurofibromatosis, neurometabolic diseases and pediatric neurology. He has served on a number of committees for the Children’s Oncology Group, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the Child Neurology Society.  He currently serves as chairman of the Coding Subcommittee within the Medical Economics and Management Committee of the AAN, and Secretary-Treasurer of the CNS.   His past leadership positions include Chairman of the Pediatric Section of the AAN, Chairman of the Practice Committee of the CNS and Counsellor from the Midwest of the CNS, and President of the Professors of Child Neurology.

Dr. Cohen has authored 96 peer-reviewed publications, published 32 book chapters, and given 590 invited lectures.

Dr. Cohen has been named among the “Best Doctors in Ohio” and “Best Doctors in America” since 1994. He also served on the board of trustees of the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation from 1999 to 2006, was a member of the UMDF’s Scientific and Medical Advisory board, and was reappointed to the board of trustees in 2010.  He is married to Anna and has four children.