UB medical school appoints Levy new chair of the Department of Neurosurgery

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Elad I. Levy, MD, MBA, professor of neurosurgery at the University at Buffalo has been named the new chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The announcement was made by Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences at UB and dean of the medical school.

Cain said that following a comprehensive national search, Levy rapidly emerged as the top candidate possessing the administrative, scientific, clinical, leadership, and visionary skills needed to move the department forward.

Levy is an accomplished neuro- and endovascular surgeon, clinical investigator and educator, certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. At UB, he helped develop endovascular stroke care, focusing on neurovascular disease states, such as aneurysms and stroke. He also pioneered a method for performing minimally invasive spinal surgery.

With investigators from the Toshiba Stroke Research Center, Levy’s team has studied flow dynamics and the biology of aneurysm formation and treatment options. His clinical research focuses on quality outcomes following stroke intervention, and the effectiveness of stroke imaging in predicting endovascular outcomes following treatment.

Levy’s broad research interests include drug coated stents, treatment of acute stroke, stenting of aneurysms and the molecular biology of stent-induced restenosis. He has served and currently serves in roles as principal investigator in national and international stroke trials.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Levy received his MD from George Washington University. He completed a surgical internship and his neurosurgical residency at the University of Pittsburgh.

At UB, Levy completed a fellowship in endovascular surgery, then served as an associate professor and professor in the Department of Neurosurgery; he also is professor of radiology. Levy is co-director for the Kaleida Health Stroke Center and director of the Toshiba Neuroendovascular Catheterization Laboratory. He recently earned an MBA from Northeastern University.

He has won numerous awards including UB’s George Thorn Young Investigator Award, given by the UB medical school to faculty of exceptional talent who are less than 45 years of age and the MDx Medical Inc. Patients’ Choice Recognition. He also was named one of the Business First Top 50 Doctors in Western New York.

A Fellow of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and the American College of Surgeons, Levy serves as board member and co-founder of the Endovascular Neurosurgery Research Group and vice chair of the Scientific Planning Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Levy is a founder of PUCCS, the Program for the Understanding of Childhood Concussions and Stroke, a national organization established to boost research into youth concussions.

He succeeds L. Nelson Hopkins, MD, FACS, who was Levy’s mentor. Hopkins, one of the founding figures of endovascular treatment for neurovascular disorders, will continue as SUNY Distinguished Professor, president of the Gates Vascular Institute and chief executive officer of the Jacobs Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to sparking medical collaboration and innovation among clinicians, academics, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry.

Levy and his family reside in Amherst.