Investing in Cutting-Edge Medicine

Cecile “CeCe” Cohan is a 91-year-old who is making a big difference in pediatric healthcare.  

CeCe has been surrounded by experts in the medical field her entire life. Her uncle, brother, and several cousins are doctors, as are her three children, a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law, and two of her grandchildren.  

Inspired by the medical professionals in her family, CeCe committed to investing in the future of medicine by including a legacy gift to the Precision Medicine Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado in her estate plan.  

Together, she and her late husband, Harold Cohan, built many flourishing businesses, including a car dealership, a crystal and china shop, and a hardware enterprise.  Harold, who passed away in 2013, was a third generation Coloradoan who was immensely proud of Denver and wanted to give back to his community. He created a trust to donate to three hospitals: National Jewish Health, University of Colorado Medical School and Children’s Colorado, leaving the final philanthropic decisions to CeCe and her children. 

Fueling the Future of Precision Medicine

After learning more about Children’s Colorado, CeCe was motivated to donate a portion of her family trust to the Precision Medicine Institute because she finds it “exciting and innovative” and she understands it is transforming medicine today.  She was attracted to the idea that, through genetic testing, physician-scientists can identify childhood diseases early and exactly, using genomic insights to circumvent some of the health challenges that might be caused by a delayed diagnosis. “The earlier the intervention, the better,” she said. 

Alisa Gaskell, PhD, Chief Genomics Officer with the Precision Medicine Institute, appreciates CeCe’s planned gift, which offers flexibility to expand the Institute. 

 “Advancing this work not only requires geneticists and lab technicians, but it also takes scientists from different subspecialties, computer programmers, software engineers and many other professionals not traditionally thought as part of the care team,” Gaskell said. “We are just at the beginning of clinical genomics. We have a long road ahead and CeCe’s unrestricted planned gift will help us to be at the forefront of that change.”