 He was officially nominated for the special election as the Democratic nominee for the vacant House seat by the executive committee of the Democratic State Committee.Cohen sponsored legislation to enable an American citizen who was a foreign medical graduate to complete a 5th Pathway Program to receive a license to practice medicine in Pennsylvania.The 5th Pathway Program peaked nationally in 1979-1980, but ultimately the expansion of the programs offered by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates led to its decline and eventual elimination by the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association.