Council on Children with Disabilities:
Arnold J. Capute Award

2004 Capute Award Recipient

Herbert J. Cohen, MD, FAAP

Comments on receiving the Arnold J. Capute Award:

I want to sincerely thank the Academy's Section on Children With Disabilities for selecting me for the 2004 Arnold J. Capute Award. I am most gratified to be here today in the company of pediatricians who, like myself, have dedicated their professional careers to the care of children with chronic disabilities.

It is certainly appropriate that this award was named for the late Dr. Capute who made such important contributions as one of the founding fathers of developmental pediatrics and the care of children with disabilities. He personally trained several generations of physicians. Many of them, including several here today, have themselves become leaders in the field. Not only do Arnold's important contributions deserve commemoration, but I also want to acknowledge the important roles that the previous winners of this award, all of whom I know personally, have made to the field. I am proud to be listed with this group, especially with Bob Cooke whose advocacy and advice to Presidents led to funding to support key training and research efforts in the field; with Dr. Dwayne Alexander for his superb leadership of NICHD; and, particularly, with Dr. Larry Taft. Dr. Taft was the founder of our Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and my own mentor, who introduced me to the developmental disability field and taught me so much. I should also mention and pay tribute to the late Dr. Harry Gordon, the founder of the Rose F. Kennedy Center, who was an important advisor to me for several decades.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would not be here today, if it were not for the encouragement of my parents to become a doctor and to pursue my own career path in medicine; and to my family, especially my very supportive wife, Marion, as well as my children, Linda, Gerald and Seth, all of whom are here today. They tolerated my many days and hours away from home, while I engaged in the numerous activities on behalf of children with disabilities. It is those pursuits that enabled me to stand on this podium today. I love them all, as well as their spouses and my 7 grandchildren.

I also must pay tribute to my excellent staff and many wonderful former trainees. Several of these outstanding individuals are present today. One cannot develop a program in our field with excellence in service, training and research without outstanding staff. I strongly believe that all of us and our programs are only as good as the staff who work in them. I am here to receive this honor on my staff's behalf.

Just some brief comments on the current state of our field and its future directions:
I have always believed that developmental pediatrics and the delivery of special care to children with disabilities is a pediatric subspecialty. The decision to merge neurodevelopmental disabilities with pediatric neurology is probably the only major thing about which Arnold and I disagreed. Our field must continue to attract pediatricians who can become leaders of interdisciplinary teams, direct clinics and training programs, and offer family-centered services. At the same time, we will have to integrate the coming revolution in neuroscience, genetics and molecular medicine (including stem cell research applications) into future programs that will offer humane care and ethical approaches to help the children and families we serve. This will not be an easy challenge, but I am sure we can all strive to achieve it in the future.

Thank you.

Congratulations Dr Cohen!