Rachel Chazan Cohen’s research focuses on the biological, relational, and environmental factors influencing the development of at-risk children, and most especially, on the creation, evaluation, and refinement of intervention programs for families with infants and toddlers. Currently, Dr. Cohen is working on several program evaluations, including the Early Steps to School Success home visiting program, local Early Head Start-Child Care partnership initiatives, and a study of the long-term effects of Early Head Start on child maltreatment. She is a senior fellow at Child Trends and visiting faculty at Tufts University.

Her work has been disseminated widely to practitioners, policymakers, and academic audiences. At the national level, she is currently co-chair of the Society for Research in Child Development Science and Social Policy Committee, scientific director of the National Research Conference on Early Childhood (formerly known as the Head Start Research Conference), and coordinator of the Network of Infant Toddler Researchers. Previously, she was the coordinator of infant and toddler research in the Office of Planning Research and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she oversaw the research agenda for Early Head Start.