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About Dr. Levine 
Forging an aggressive program of integrated research is the long-term objective of Michael A. Levine, M.D., the newly appointed physician-in-chief of The Children's Hospital at The Cleveland Clinic. "My immediate goal is to partner like-minded individuals within the Children's Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute to develop programs that capture the interests of the clinicians and the enthusiasm of the scientists," he says. Dr. Levine spent 20 years at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine specializing in bone diseases, starting with the aging population before turning his attention to pediatrics. "After years of studying postmenopausal osteoporosis, I realized I couldn't be as effective treating it as I might be in preventing it. So my thoughts turned to preventing osteoporosis by addressing the goal of optimizing bone health during the first two decades of life. Children and adolescents who develop strong skeletons, and achieve their genetically determined peak bone mass, will have more bone density, and stronger skeletons, as older adults." When asked to lead the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at Johns Hopkins five years ago, he jumped at the chance. Dr. Levine considers pediatrics to be the linchpin of the health puzzle in our country. "The major chronic health problems of aging that now challenge us in the United States - hypertension, obesity, diabetes, heart disease - all begin in childhood. Pediatricians can play a major role in optimizing the health of children, and ultimately the health of the entire population." He will encourage staff to use an intellectual approach to every patient experience. New faculty will be recruited for their clinical excellence as well as their ability to develop independent research programs with Lerner Research Institute investigators. "I see the The Children's Hospital at The Cleveland Clinic as a place where staff are committed not only to each individual child's welfare, but also to determining the best care for all patients," says Dr. Levine. Noting the strength of Cleveland Clinic programs in fields such as pediatric cardiac disease, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric neurology, pediatric infectious disease, and pediatric hematology and cancer, he wants to focus on a broad range of diseases. The planned Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University played a role in attracting Dr. Levine to the Clinic from Johns Hopkins. "The most fulfilling aspect of my career - what has allowed me to integrate teaching, clinical care and research - has been the mentoring and guiding of younger physicians as they develope their careers," he says. "The Clinic has an excellent reputation in postgraduate education, which makes development of a medical school a logical next step. I look forward to placing our pediatric imprint on the medical school." Dr. Levine graduated with distinction from Hahnemann
University in Philadelphia in 1976. He completed an internship and
residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins before serving as
clinical associate at the National Institutes of Health in a combined
endocrinology and genetics program. He returned to Johns Hopkins
in 1982 as assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology
and Metabolism, eventually heading the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology.
Dr. Levine has earned numerous awards, including the recent ACE
Distinction in Clinical Endocrinology Award from the American College
of Endocrinology.
Cleveland Clinic Foundation | The
Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation |