Adam Cohen graduated in Pharmacy and Medicine from Leiden University. He worked at the department of Clinical Pharmacology of the Wellcome Research Laboratories in the UK in early development and larger trials in cardiovascular disease as project leader for one of the first biotech developments in Europe. He obtained a PhD degree from Leiden University (1986). He had a clinical attachment in internal medicine and nephrology in King’s College Hospital London.

Between 1987 and 2018 he was CEO of the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR), a research centre for early drug development. He is emeritus professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Leiden University Medical Centre and clinically attached to the department of nephrology and actively involved in undergraduate and graduate education. He was vice-chairman of the Central Ethics Committee and the Competent Authority (CCMO) of the Netherlands between 1999 and 2011. He was Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology until 2020. He advises biotech startups, venture capital investors and serves on boards and is active as an educator and publicist. He is a GP for Ukranian refugees and an active amateur clarinettist.