Elad Levy
Elad I. Levy is an American neurosurgeon, researcher, and innovator who played a major role in the development and testing of thrombectomy, which improved quality of life and survival of stroke patients. He has focused his career and research on developing evidence based medicine and literature showing the benefits of thrombectomy for the treatment of stroke. He is currently Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology, and the L. Nelson Hopkins, MD Professor Endowed Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY). In 2011 Levy founded and is currently the president for  the Program for Understanding Childhood Concussion & Stroke (PUCCS), to date this organization has raised over $750,000 which is aimed towards promoting research and preventing concussions in all sports. In addition Levy is co-chair of CycleNation for the American Heart Association raising over $500,000 geared towards prevention and education of stroke and heart disease. In 2013 he became the unaffiliated National Football League (NFL) Neurotrauma consultant for the Buffalo Bills. In 2017 he was appointed as one of 12 National Directors to the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. In 2018 he was appointed Secretary to the Congress of  Neurological Surgeons Executive Committee and also appointed to the Ethics Committee for the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He is also the Director of Stroke Research and Director of Endovascular Stroke Treatment and Research at the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, Co-Director of Kaleida Health Stroke Center at the Gates Vascular Institute, and Co-Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo. In 2020 Levy received his appointment as Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo due to his prolific contributions to research, innovation, leadership and academia. In October 2021 , Dr. Levy was appointed new president-elect for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Dr. Levy also served as the neurosurgery consultant for season 2 and season 3 of popular TV show Grey's Anatomy Early life and education. Levy was born in Tiberias, Israel in 1972. His father went to medical school in Italy, where Dr. Levy learned to speak Italian, in addition to English in school and Hebrew at home. At the age of seven, he immigrated to the United States. After his father's residency training in obstetrics and gynecology in New York City, his family settled in  rural northern upstate New York close to Montreal, where his dad joined a solo Obstetrics and gynecology practice. Growing up, Levy spent his summers with his father's family in Israel. Dr. Levy went onto attend local schools before his last two years of High School, which he spent at Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut. Higher education and training. Levy went to Dartmouth College to study molecular biology and biochemistry. He began medical school in 1993 at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., where he became interested in Orthopedic  Surgery. However, when he did not secure the summer orthopedic internship after his freshman year, he chose to do a summer research project with Dr. Laligam Sekhar, the Chairman of Neurosurgery at George Washington University at the time, since then neurosurgery became his focus. Following graduation in 1997, Levy began his surgical internships and training in neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh . Following in the footsteps of Dr. Peter Jannetta, the “father of microvascular decompression,” and Dr. Dade Lunsford, who introduced Gamma-knife radiosurgery to the University of Pittsburgh, Levy pursued minimally invasive endovascular neurosurgery by spending 2 years of  his residency in Buffalo, as a fellow under Dr. L. Nelson Hopkins, the “father of neurointerventional surgery". He completed his fellowship training in 2003 and returned to Pittsburgh to finish his residency training in 2004. In later years, Levy also completed his Master of Business Administration at Northeastern University and graduated magna cum laude in 2013. Academic and professional career. Levy started his academic and professional career as an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology at the State University of New York (SUNy) at Buffalo in 2004. The following year in 2005, he became the Director for Stroke Research, and  Co-Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo. He was also appointed as Co-Director of Kaleida Health Stroke Center and the Director of Endovascular Stroke Treatment and Research in 2006. He also served as the Endovascular Fellowship Program Director for the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo from 2006 to 2013. In 2010, Levy was promoted to the title of Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology. Subsequently, in 2013 when Dr. L. Nelson Hopkins retired as the Chair of Neurosurgery, Levy became chairman. Since then he more than doubled the size of the faculty Research . Levy has helped the endovascular treatment modalities for stroke. His research work focuses on neurovascular diseases such as stroke, brain aneurysms and vessel malformations. He has published and lectured extensively on the endovascular techniques for cerebrovascular disorders, publishing nearly 500 peer-reviewed publications and more than 200 book chapters, including his latest book titled "Video Atlas of Acute Ischemic Stroke Intervention". He has also contributed several live cases for national and international meetings as well as for community education. He has been involved with research resulting in paradigm shifts in the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, including being the US Interventional  Principal Investigator for the SWIFT PRIME trials. Levy's research work holds an H-index of 86. Selected publications. A partial list of articles is provided below: