Doctor Cooper was educated at Harvard College, the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons Institute of Human Nutrition, the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Bioethics, and the Georgetown University Kennedy Institute of Ethics. He was trained in general surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, in pediatric surgery and surgical critical care at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and is board certified by the American Board of Surgery in all three specialties. He is also board certified in disaster medicine by the American Board of Disaster Medicine, of which he is a founding member and Past Chair, in emergency medical services by the American Board of Emergency Medicine, and holds a Certificate in Bioethics and Medical Humanities from the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Bioethics. He is Professor Emeritus and Special Lecturer in Surgery at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Director of Pediatric Surgical & Trauma Services, Medical Director of the Pediatric Injury Prevention Program and the Child Protection Team, and Head of the Clinical Ethics Consultation Service at New York City Health+ Hospitals | Harlem, as well as Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Co-Chair of the Ethics Committee at New York City Health+ Hospitals | Metropolitan, and member of the Ethics Council of New York City Health+ Hospitals. He is also Immediate Past President and Trustee of the New York County Medical Society, Co-Investigator for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Pediatric Disaster Coalition, Immediate Past Chair of the Medical Society of the State of New York Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster/Terrorism Response, Chair of the National Disaster Life Support Foundation, Immediate Past President of the American Academy of Disaster Medicine, member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Vice President of the American Association of Physician Specialists, and was recently appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters. He has coedited eight books and resources, authored or coauthored some four hundred peer reviewed scientific articles, textbook chapters, and policy statements in his areas of expertise, and has presented at over four hundred regional, national, and international scientific meetings. His academic focus remains on improving emergency medical, trauma, and disaster care for children, most recently with respect to the ethical basis for such care, for which he has been honored by the Federal Emergency Medical Services of Children Program, the New York State Department of Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Academy of Disaster Medicine, in addition to serving the New York State Department of Health as a member of its Emergency Medical Advisory Committee, Trauma Advisory Committee, Chair of its Emergency Medical Services for Children Advisory Committee, and his ongoing work in the field of bioethics, which in addition to clinical ethics consultation, includes service on the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Bioethics, the Medical Society of the State of New York Committee on Bioethics, and the newly formed Empire State Bioethics Consortium.
