.png)
Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics
Weill Cornell Medical College
Port Washington, New York, United States
Deborah A. Levine, MD is currently a Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine. Her expertise is in pediatric emergency medicine. She have been practicing clinically for 24 years predominantly at urban academic medical centers and have experience in multi-centered research. Dr. Levine procured an investigator-initiated pharmaceutical grant and created a research consortium of 8 pediatric emergency sites across the country to study this topic. The study resulted in numerous abstracts presented at national meetings, including an award for best presentation. The landmark study, published in Pediatrics 2004, demonstrated a lower rate of serious bacterial infections in young febrile infants with respiratory syncytial virus though not negligible, encouraging physicians to continue the evaluation for bacterial disease. In addition to being part of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Collaborative Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Levine became the primary investigator at Bellevue Hospital in the Febrile Infant Working Group of the national federally funded, Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network and contributed primarily to a large, multi-centered study evaluating RNA biosignatures to detect bacterial infections in febrile infants. This work led to numerous abstract presentations and publications as well as a landmark study, published in JAMA Pediatr 2019, deriving a clinical prediction rule in febrile infants at low risk for bacterial disease. Another collaborative clinical research project involved injury prevention and advocacy. Dr. Levine partnered pediatric emergency medicine with colleagues in trauma surgery at Bellevue Hospital to create Safer Streets, a hospital-based research and advocacy consortium. The collaborative obtained funding through New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and studied risk factors for bicyclists and pedestrians struck by motor vehicles in New York City. They found alcohol, lack of helmets, mid-block crossing, vehicles who turn at intersections to be associated with injury. The research resulted in numerous abstracts presented locally and nationally as well as publications and media coverage. Currently Dr. Levine is the primary investigator for a multi-centered retrospective study of 22 sites in the metropolitan NYC area to study Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and develop a prediction model for children with MIS-C and the development of shock. In addition, she is involved in a pediatric research collaborative using large data from INSIGHT, a PCORI-funded Clinical Research Network to study pediatric emergency utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic, including mental health. Dr. Levine is also involved in collaborative research with Nationwide Children’s and University of Montreal to study minor traumatic head injury and concussion in the young infant and child.