Robert Levy, MD, PhD, has joined the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville to serve as professor and chair of the department of neurosurgery and co-director of the Shands Jacksonville Neuroscience Institute.
Levy comes to UF from Northwestern University, where he was chief of the section of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery and director of the Gamma Knife Center. While there, he built an international reputation as a preeminent researcher and neurosurgeon specializing in implanting devices to modify brain function and treat chronic pain.
He hopes to develop the Jacksonville neurosurgery department into a regional and national leader, and says he was lured here in part by the college’s commitment to those goals. He plans to double the staff to ten neurosurgeons within two years and envisions a neurosurgery residency program within five years.
“The potential for building a regional, nationally recognized neuroscience center and neurosurgery department is unbelievable,” Levy said.
Robert Nuss, MD, dean of the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville regional campus, said the college is fortunate to have attracted someone with Levy’s credentials.
“Dr. Levy’s appointment will enhance an already robust neuroscience program and I have great expectations that under his leadership the department will grow and flourish in clinical, educational and research endeavors,” Nuss said.
Levy’s clinical practice focuses on the treatment of brain tumors, stereotactic and functional neurosurgery as well as radiosurgery – the use of highly focused radiation to treat disorders of the brain or spine. At Northwestern, Levy used the Gamma Knife facility for those procedures. The same technology is available in Jacksonville, but Levy is also looking to take advantage of the UF Proton Therapy Institute on the Jacksonville campus to treat brain disorders.
In addition, Levy is regarded as a leader in the field of neuromodulation – using electrical or chemical devices to treat neurologic disorders. The techniques are currently used for people with ailments including chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, headaches and epilepsy.
Levy’s most recent research has centered on novel applications of neuromodulation therapies on a variety of disorders to restore neurologic function. Emerging applications include the treatment of medically refractory psychiatric disorders, traumatic brain injury, obesity and paralysis after stroke or spinal cord injury. Levy is editor-in-chief of “Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface.” He serves on the board of directors of the International Neuromodulation Society and the North American Neuromodulation Society.
At the national level, Levy has served as chair for the section on pain for both the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He twice won the William Sweet Award from those organizations for research in pain and also won the quadrennial research award of the World Federation of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. He has been named each year as one of the Best Doctors in America.
Levy received both a medical degree and a doctorate in neurological and behavioral sciences from Stanford University, with the goal of being able to perform translational research that would allow him to take findings from the laboratory into the clinic where he could help patients. He completed his neurological surgery residency at the University of California, San Francisco.
Levy will co-direct the Neuroscience Institute with Alan Berger, MD, a UF professor and chairman of the neurology department.
“He brings instant credibility, both in recruiting faculty and in leading the department,” Berger said.