David B. Levine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1932 (age 91–92) |
| Education | Dartmouth College (BA) State University of New York Upstate Medical University (MD) |
| Occupation | Orthopedic Surgeon |
| Spouse | Janet Levine (Cohen) |
| Medical career | |
| Institutions | |
| Sub-specialties | Spinal surgery, scoliosis |
David B. Levine is an orthopaedic surgeon, hospital administrator, professor and historian of medicine who has held positions since 1961 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, New York.
Levine was born to Sarah and Herbert Levine in 1932 in Binghamton, NY, and attended public schools there. He studied from 1950 to 1953 at Dartmouth College [1] and graduated in 1957 with an M.D. degree from State University of New York Upstate Medical University at Syracuse.
From 1957 to 1958, he worked as a Rotating Intern at the Case Western Reserve's Metropolitan General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. From 1958 to 1959 he was an Assistant Surgical Resident at Beth Israel Hospital (now known as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) in Boston, Massachusetts, and also during this year was an instructor in surgery at Harvard Medical School.
From 1959 to 1961, he served at the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Navy as the medical officer aboard the USS Forrestal in the Sixth Fleet.
During 1961–1964, Levine served as an Orthopaedic Resident at the Hospital for Special Surgery. [2] In 1965–1966 he served as an orthopaedic spine fellow at the Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey, California. From 1965 to 1966, he was a spine fellow at the Los Angeles General Hospital, where he was also an instructor in Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Southern California. In 1967, he was certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.
From 1966 to 1995, Levine was on the attending staff at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), as an orthopaedic surgeon. He held the titles of Chief of the Scoliosis Service (1968–1995), and Director of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery (1987–1990). As Chairman of the Orthopedic Residency Training Program (1987–1990), he streamlined the application process, helping to introduce one of the first computerized scoring processes and adding a psychologist interview session.
He taught for over thirty years at Cornell University Medical College, and from 1978 to 1995 held the title of Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the Weill Cornell Medical College. From 1979 to 1982, Dr. Levine was an Alumni Council Trustee of the college.
In addition, he was a surgeon at The New York Hospital, and the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital. From 1976 to 1980, he was Visiting Associate Physician at The Rockefeller University Hospital in New York City.
During his career, Levine published over 65 peer reviewed articles, 16 books and chapters and gave more than 300 invited presentations. He was the proposer of the Scoliosis Research Society in 1964, a founding member and its president from 1978 to 1979, serving on the board of directors for fifteen years. In 2010, the Society, now a highly recognized international organization, presented him with its "Lifetime Achievement Award." [3]
In 2006, the hospital announced the creation of The David B. Levine Endowed Clinical Research Chair. [4]
In 1995, Levine retired from active patient care and the next year moved to Florence, Italy with his wife Janet, an artist, where he lectured at Careggi University Orthopaedic Hospital, studied antique furniture restoration and perfected his Italian cooking. He returned to New York in 1997, purchased a farm in Columbia County, New York, restored a 19th-century home, tended an organic garden, boarded black Angus cattle, cared for a raft of ducks, and a herd of homeless sheep and goats.
In 2003 Levine became the Director of the Alumni Association at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). In concert with the 150th anniversary of HSS he published the definitive history of the hospital in 2013 titled, Anatomy of a Hospital. History of the Hospital for Special Surgery, 1863–2013. [5]
Levine has pursued history of medicine, and given presentations on medicine during the Civil War. [6] From the beginning of the Civil War in April 1861, until the Confederate States surrendered in April 1865, the casualties and deaths on both sides were monumental, changing the face of medical care, resulting in the creation of the Army Medical Corps. [7]
Levine has spoken about the history of cancer immunotherapy research at Hospital for Special Surgery. [8] Dr. William Coley (January 12, 1862 – April 16, 1936), (the 3rd surgeon-in-chief at the hospital when it was called The Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled) who developed Coley's Toxins, investigated the field. [9]
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors, and congenital disorders.
Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a hospital in New York City that specializes in orthopedic surgery and the treatment of rheumatologic conditions.
William Bradley Coley was an American bone surgeon and cancer researcher best known for his early contributions to the study of cancer immunotherapy, specifically causing infection as a way to fight cancer, a practice used as far back as 1550 BC. His work was not proven effective in his lifetime, and today Coley's toxins are known to be both ineffective and potentially harmful. Coley is nevertheless recognized as the Father of Cancer Immunotherapy for his contributions to the science.
Edville Gerhardt Abbott was an American orthopedic surgeon, orthotist and inventor.
Spine is a biweekly peer-reviewed medical journal covering research in the field of orthopaedics, especially concerning the spine. It was established in 1976 and is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. The current editor-in-chief is Andrew J. Schoenfeld, M.D.. Spine is considered the leading orthopaedic journal covering cutting-edge spine research. Spine is available in print and online. Spine is considered the most cited journal in orthopaedics.
Spinal disease refers to a condition impairing the backbone. These include various diseases of the back or spine ("dorso-"), such as kyphosis. Dorsalgia refers to back pain. Some other spinal diseases include spinal muscular atrophy, ankylosing spondylitis, lumbar spinal stenosis, spina bifida, spinal tumors, osteoporosis and cauda equina syndrome.
David Marsh Bosworth was an American orthopedic surgeon and medical educator. He is remembered for describing the Bosworth fracture.
John Nevil Insall (1930–2000) was a pioneering English orthopaedic surgeon who contributed extensively to the advancement of orthopedic surgery and total knee replacement surgery. Insall designed four models of widely used systems, including the ground breaking Total Condylar Knee in 1974.
Paul Randall Harrington was an American orthopaedic surgeon. He is best known as the designer of the Harrington Rod, the first device for the straightening and immobilization of the spine inside the body. It entered common use in the early 1960s and remained the gold standard for scoliosis surgery until the late 1990s. During this period over one million people benefited from Harrington's procedure.
The University Orthopaedic Center is the only full-service specialty center of its kind in the Intermountain West, including services in joint reconstruction, sports medicine, pediatric orthopaedics, spinal disorders, hand, foot and ankle, trauma, musculoskeletal oncology, shoulder and elbow, and physical therapy.
Sean E. McCance is an American orthopedic surgeon and Co-Director of Spine Surgery in the Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopaedics at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Additionally, he is an Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopaedics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Attending Spine Physician at Lenox Hill Hospital.
Andrew C. Hecht is an American orthopaedic surgeon and a nationally recognized leader in surgery on the spine.
John Robert Cobb (1903–1967), was an American orthopedic surgeon who invented the eponymous Cobb angle, the preferred method of measuring the degree of scoliosis and post-traumatic kyphosis.
John H. Healey is an American cancer surgeon, researcher, and expert in the surgical treatment of benign and malignant bone tumors and other musculoskeletal cancers. He serves as Chair of the Orthopaedic Service and Stephen P. McDermott Chair in Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), as well as Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York, NY.
William Edward Gallie was a Canadian medical educator and orthopedic surgeon.
Oheneba Boachie-Adjei is a Ghanaian orthopaedic surgeon. He specializes in spinal reconstruction and the treatment of kyphosis and scoliosis. He is professor of orthopaedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, in the United States, and is an attending orthopaedic surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, all in New York City. From 1972 to 1976 he studied at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, in the United States, where he completed a BS degree summa cum laude. He then studied medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Joseph D. Zuckerman is an American orthopedic surgeon specializing in shoulder, hip and knee replacement surgery.
Yash Gulati is an Indian orthopedic surgeon and the senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi. He specializes in joint replacement and spine surgeries and is a visiting consultant at RAK Hospital, Ras al-Khaimah. He is the youngest orthopedic surgeon to win the civilian honour of the Padma Shri.
Augustus A. White III is an American surgeon who is the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Distinguished Professor of Medical Education and Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and a former Orthopaedic Surgeon-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. White was the first African American medical student at Stanford, surgical resident at Yale University, professor of medicine at Yale, and department head at a Harvard-affiliated hospital.
Philip Duncan Wilson Jr. (1920–2016) was an orthopedic surgeon who brought total hip replacement surgery to the Hospital for Special Surgery in 1967. He started at the Hospital for Special Surgery in 1948, and served as the Surgeon-in-Chief from 1972 to 1989. He served as the President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in 1972.