Sally S Cohen

Faculty

Sally Cohen headshot

Sally Cohen

PhD RN FAAN

Clinical Professor

1 212 992 5929

433 First Ave
New York, NY 10010
United States

Accepting PhD students

Sally S. Cohen, FAAN, Ph.D., RN, is a clinical professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. As a nationally recognized leader in advancing health policy and nursing at the national and state levels, she helps integrate health policy into nursing education, practice, and research. Her interdisciplinary scholarship encompasses public health, children’s rights, bullying prevention, and the politics of policymaking for children’s issues. As the editor-in-chief of Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice from 2014 to 2019, Cohen helped to create a vibrant forum for nurses and others globally to share ideas and analyses of policies and political activities that affect nursing practice in all venues of care.

Before joining NYU as faculty, Cohen was the 2014–2015 NAM/AAN/ANA/ANF Distinguished Nurse Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute of Medicine (now the Academy of Medicine). Before that, she directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative at the University of New Mexico. The collaborative, which wrapped up its work in 2017, prepared nursing Ph.D. students for leadership in health policy. As director of policy and research at the National League of Nursing, Cohen helped advocate for legislation that in 1985 established the National Institute of Nursing Research. She also developed and directed the Nursing Management, Policy, and Leadership specialty at the Yale. 

Among her many honors, Cohen received the 2019 Lois Capps Policy Luminary Award from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing for her exceptional contributions to the nursing workforce and healthcare policy. She was honored by Yale School of Nursing with its “90 Outstanding Yale Nurses” award in 2013. In 2008, she received the Kaplan-Landy Award for Vision, Innovation, and Leadership from the Hadassah Nurses Council. She was elected to the New York Academy of Medicine in 2006 and the American Academy of Nursing in 1988.

Cohen earned her PhD from Columbia University, MSN from Yale University, and BA from Cornell University.

 

PhD - Columbia University
MSN - Yale University
BA - Cornell University

Pediatric
Community/population health
Health Policy

American Academy of Nursing
American Nurses Association
American Political Science Association
American Public Health Association
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Lois Capps Policy Luminary Award, American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2019)
90 Nurses for 90 Years, Yale University School of Nursing (2013)
Kaplan-Landy Award for Vision, Innovation, and Leadership, Hadassah National Nurses Council (2008)
Elected to the New York Academy of Medicine (2006)
Ellen Rudy Clore Excellence in Writing Award, Journal of Pediatric Health Care (1998)
Dissertation approved with distinction (1993)
Marisa de Castro Benton Prize, for outstanding dissertation in Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University (1993)
Elected to American Academy of Nursing (1988)
Elected to Sigma Theta Tau, International, Honor Society for Nursing, as charter member Delta Mu Chapter (1979)

Dietary Supplements: Policy and Research Implications for Nurses

Xue, Y., & Cohen, S. S. (2004). Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 5(3), 149-159. 10.1177/1527154404266586
Abstract
Abstract
Millions of Americans use dietary supplements without full knowledge of their effects. Given the serious safety issues surrounding dietary supplements and the potential for nurses to play pivotal roles as patient educators and policy advocates, this article describes laws and regulations pertaining to dietary supplements, relevant research, the role of organized interests in policy making for dietary supplements, and how other countries regulate dietary supplements. We offer recommendations for policy change and identify implications of this issue for nursing practice.

Nursing Ethics: Editorial comment

Olsen, D. P., & Cohen, S. (2004). Nursing Ethics, 11(4), 332-333. 10.1191/0969733004ne706ed

Recent events highlight importance of mental health services.

Pasacreta, J. V., Cohen, S. S., & Cataldo, J. (2002, January 1). In Nursing economic$ (Vols. 20, Issue 1, p. 39).

Rooms without Rules: Shaping Policies for Assisted Living Facilities

Chen, C. C. H., & Cohen, S. S. (2002). Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 3(2), 188-197. 10.1177/152715440200300213
Abstract
Abstract
A burgeoning aging population, the desire of elders to “age in place,” and changes in family structure that leave elders with limited family supports have generated great interest in assisted living. Many baby boomers have the means to afford assisted living either for themselves or their aging family members. Additionally, in an effort to contain skyrocketing Medicaid expenditures, policy makers are interested in alternatives to nursing home care. As the number of assisted living facilities soars, calls for regulation are growing. Nurses have much to contribute to the formation of federal, state, and local assisted living policies. In particular, knowledge of regulatory issues and the agenda-setting process can enhance nursing’s influence in assisted living policy making. This article describes the issues surrounding policy making for assisted living with an eye toward promoting the role of nurses in this important policy area.

Advancing health policy in nursing education through service learning

Cohen, S. S., & Milone-Nuzzo, P. (2001). Advances in Nursing Science, 23(3), 28-40. 10.1097/00012272-200103000-00004
Abstract
Abstract
Knowledge of health policy is an increasingly important aspect of nursing practice and education, especially as nurses strive to improve the rapidly changing health care delivery system. At the same time, many educators, researchers, foundations, and government officials are touting the benefits of service learning. In particular, service learning offers ways to enhance partnerships between academia and community agencies and to extend learning beyond the traditional classroom. We present a model for educating nurses as advanced practice nurses in health policy that links service learning with a framework for the political development of nurses. Under the rubric of service learning, the curriculum is based on the overlap among health policy, the role of the nurse as consultant, and community-based care. After discussing the importance of health policy for graduate nursing education and reviewing the essentials of service learning, we describe a three-semester graduate sequence in health policy service learning. The focus is on the clinical and classroom components of both individual and group practica and their relationship to stages of nursing's political development. The article concludes with evaluation considerations and the implications of our work for nursing theory, research, practice, and education.

PNPs as catalysts in child care policymaking

Cohen, S. S., & Misuraca, B. L. (2001). Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 15(2), 49-57. 10.1067/mph.2001.109030
Abstract
Abstract
Dramatic socioeconomic changes in American family life, along with welfare reform, school readiness initiatives, and research on the relationship between child development and child care, have generated new interest in child care policy. Pediatric nurse practitioners and other pediatric nurses have much to contribute to the formulation of national, state, and local child care policies, especially if they are knowledgeable of key policies and regulatory issues. This article outlines these concepts with an eye toward promoting how pediatric nurses might reclaim their role as catalysts for promoting high-quality child care.

Beyond the Sound Bites: Election 2000: A quick guide to the candidates' positions on pressing health care concerns

Cohen, S. S., Leavitt, J. K., & Heinrich, J. (2000). American Journal of Nursing, 100(8), 47-48. 10.1097/00000446-200008000-00052

Health policy and the private sector: New vistas for nursing

Pulcini, J., Mason, D. J., Cohen, S. S., Kovner, C., & Leavitt, J. K. (2000). Nursing and Health Care Perspectives, 21(1), 22-28.
Abstract
Abstract
During the past two decades, the drive to rein in rising health care costs has shifted some of the power in health care policy making from professional groups, government agencies, and not-for-profit health care organizations to large for-profit corporations (1-4). This has been a worldwide phenomenon, as the provision and financing of health care services is shifted from governments to private health care organizations (5,6). In the United States, the shift in power is manifested in profound ways. Market competition and bottom-line economics have permeated the health care system, creating powerful new incentives for mergers, other corporate restructuring, and the shift to for-profit status by formerly not-for-profit insurance companies and providers. Private sector health care is now increasingly influenced by for-profit organizations (3). Moreover, the health insurance industry has been transformed as traditional indemnity insurance is replaced by versions of managed care. The role of government, or the public sector, in setting parameters for health care financing and standards for the delivery of health care services is increasingly outpaced in cost cutting by organizations that directly face the bottom line. In addition, private foundations, many of which are under the auspices of managed care organizations, now fund a large proportion of health care research and demonstration projects, a task once largely within the realm of the government. Through education and experience, nurses have developed political sophistication and understanding of policy making in the public sector (7). The challenge now is to educate nurses to adapt their political and policy strategies to the new health care milieu. This challenge is particularly crucial for advanced practice nurses, who must survive in a managed care environment.

Nurse practitioners can cut costs and provide increased care.

Cohen, S. S. (2000). Clinical Excellence for Nurse Practitioners : The International Journal of NPACE, 4(3), 173-174.

Nurse practitioners' experiences with managed care organizations in New York and Connecticut

Mason, D. J., Alexander, J. M., Huffaker, J., Reilly, P. A., Sigmund, E. C., & Cohen, S. S. (1999). Nursing Outlook, 47(5), 201-208. 10.1016/S0029-6554(99)90052-0
Abstract
Abstract
In a study of nurse practitioners in New York and Connecticut, more than half reported they had never applied to be credentialed by a managed care organization. The majority of nurse practioners reported that their offices billed for their services under the name of the collaborating physician and at the physician rate.