Elizabeth Cohen (born Elizabeth Sondra Schwartz) is an American television news

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. She is the channel's senior

medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

correspondent and appears on various programs.

Early life

She was born Elizabeth Sondra Schwartz, the daughter of Sheila Fay (née Gopen) and Charles A. "Chuck" Schwartz. Her father was a physician. She has two sisters and a brother: Pamela Fay Cohen, Julia Molly Healy, and David Ansin Schwartz and was raised in

Needham, Massachusetts Needham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 32,091 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. It is the home of Olin College. History ...

. She is of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

descent. Cohen attended Columbia College, and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. In 1992, she graduated with a master's degree in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. She has received outstanding alumna awards from both colleges.

Career

Cohen worked at

WLVI WLVI (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Boston area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside WHDH (channel 7), an independent station. WLVI and ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

as associate producer of environmental program ''Green Watch''. She also worked as a reporter for States News Service in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

and for The '' Times Union'' in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. Cohen joined CNN in 1991. She focuses on health-related issues and has reported from a medical angle on major news stories including the Gulf oil spill, the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

and

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

. She is currently senior medical correspondent for CNN's Health, Medical and Wellness unit.

Awards

Cohen won a Hearst Award during her time at the ''Times Union''. She won a

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

from the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

and a National Headliner Award for the feature "A Lesson Before Dying" in 2006. She was honored by the Newswomen's Club of New York, the New York Association of Black Journalists for the feature "African-Americans and Bone Marrow Transplants", and the Mental Health America Media Awards in 2007 for her reporting work. She won a Gracie Award in 2008 for the feature "Where’s Molly?" She contributed to CNN's

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Works

She published a book titled ''The Empowered Patient'' in 2010.

Personal life

She is married to Israeli-born entrepreneur Tal Cohen; they have four daughters.

References

External links

CNN - biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Elizabeth American television personalities American women television personalities American women journalists Jewish American journalists CNN people Columbia College (New York) alumni Boston University School of Public Health alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews People from Needham, Massachusetts 21st-century American women