Thos Cochrane

Thos Cochrane, MD, MBA

Director of the Online Certificate Program and Co-Director of the Fellowship in Bioethics, HMS Center for Bioethics

Thos Cochrane, MD, MBA, is a medical ethicist, neuromuscular neurologist, and a rare disease drug development specialist. He is the Co-Director of the Fellowship in Bioethics at Harvard Medical School. He received his MD/MBA with honors from Tufts Medical School.

Dr. Cochrane trained in neurology at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals, and in neuromuscular medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital. He completed the HMS Fellowship in Bioethics 2004-2005 and was the Edmond J. Safra Faculty Fellow in Ethics at  Harvard University 2005-2006.

From 2005 to 2017, Dr. Cochrane worked as an attending specialist in neuromuscular medicine and medical ethics at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and split time between clinical care, research, teaching, and medical ethics consultation. He was the first Director of Neuroethics at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics.

From 2018-2023 Dr. Cochrane was a Medical Director at Biogen and from 2020-2023 he served as the Global Medical Lead for ALS. As part of his duties, he established the Expanded Access Program for Tofersen for SOD1-ALS, which has provided preapproval access to tofersen for more than 400 people in over 25 countries. Since 2023 he has led the Clinical Development program at Quralis Inc. for QRL-201, another intrathecal ASO for ALS.

Publications View
The controversy over artificial hydration and nutrition.
Authors: Authors: Cochrane T, Truog RD.
Neurology
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Swiss cheese brain.
Authors: Authors: Cochrane TI, Nguyen TN.
Neurology
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Brain disease or moral condition? Wrong question.
Authors: Authors: Cochrane TI.
Am J Bioeth
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Goetz CG, editor
Authors: Authors: Degenerative and Compressive Structural Disorders
Textbook of Clinical Neurology
Appropriate use of artificial nutrition and hydration.
Authors: Authors: Cochrane TI, Truog RD.
N Engl J Med
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Relevance of patient diagnosis to analysis of the Terri Schiavo case.
Authors: Authors: Cochrane TI.
Ann Intern Med
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The truth about "donation after cardiac death".
Authors: Authors: Truog RD, Cochrane TI.
J Clin Ethics
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Refusal of hydration and nutrition: irrelevance of the "artificial" vs "natural" distinction.
Authors: Authors: Truog RD, Cochrane TI.
Arch Intern Med
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Compressive myelopathy presenting as cervical cord neurapraxia: a differential diagnosis of TIA.
Authors: Authors: Cochrane T, Schmahmann JD.
Neurology
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