Alumni Charlie Cohen (Class of 2012) dedicates his days to researching how the heart works and what contributes to heart dysfunction in disease.
School days
Charlie has fond memories of his days at CGS, particularly the Year 12 Common Room. It was a lovely place for him to study and facilitated collaboration amongst fellow classmates, without the constraints of a traditional class system.
Passion for science
After finishing year 12, Charlie began his Bachelor of Science degree at Monash University. It was there that he discovered his passion for physiology and pharmacology. Upon completion of his Bachelor’s degree, Charlie went on to undertake an Honours project in the Pharmacology Department as well as the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, where he received first-class Honours and was awarded the Alan Boura Prize for Pharmacology (2017).
A personal connection
Charlie’s passion for helping others began at age six when his mother passed away unexpectedly from a sudden cardiac arrest with no explanation – still to this day. His personal experience drove him to learn as much as possible about how the heart works and what contributes to heart dysfunction in disease.
“Charlie loves that he can contribute to heart research in his mother’s honour.”
Further studies lead to international opportunities
Charlie has continued his studies, working towards a Ph.D primarily focused on the heart in the context of Type-2 diabetes. With Type-2 diabetes increasing in prevalence worldwide, Charlie is hoping to reduce the mortality rate related to heart failure as a part of this disease. He has been able to systematically characterise the cellular and molecular alterations within the heart using mice. Charlie has been using novel techniques such as flow cytometry, single-cell RNA sequencing and immunohistochemistry to provide a valuable framework for prospective research when studying diabetic heart disease.
As part of his Ph.D, Charlie got the opportunity to present at numerous scientific conferences. In 2021, he attended an international conference (American Heart Association, Basic Cardiovascular Sciences). Charlie’s talk piqued the interest of a laboratory head at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, where he recently received a job offer from John Hopkins prior to finishing his Ph.D.
“Charlie is incredibly humbled and grateful for the opportunity and is excited for the next chapter of his research career”
Looking to the future
Charlie is currently working at Johns Hopkins University in the United States as a Research Fellow in Cardiac Immunology. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. In 5-10 Years’ time, Charlie aspires to remain in research, in the hope that the research community are able to unravel the mysteries of cardiovascular-related death.
The key to success
For anyone looking to pursue a career in scientific research, Charlie advises choosing your mentors carefully. It’s a tough industry to navigate, and Charlie believes that the key to success is having an appropriate support network to help you thrive.
“As long as you have the right people around you, hard work will pay off”
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-cohen-phd-9b7b8b13b/
