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Retsef Levi

{{Short description|Israeli mathematician and management scientist (born 1971)}}{{Infobox scientist

| name = Retsef Levi

| image = Retsef Levi, ראיון עם פרופ' רצף לוי על הדרך הנכונה לנהל את משבר הקורונה.png

| caption = Levi in 2021

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|March 7, 1971}}

| birth_place = Tel Aviv, Israel

| fields = {{Tree list}}

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| workplaces = Massachusetts Institute of Technology

| thesis_title = Computing Provably Near-Optimal Policies for Stochastic Inventory Control Models

| thesis_url = https://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?PublicationDocumentID=7654

| thesis_year = 2005

| doctoral_advisor = David Shmoys
Robin Roundy

| academic_advisors = James Renegar

| education = Tel Aviv University (BSc)
Cornell University (PhD)

| module = {{Infobox military person|

| embed = yes

| allegiance = {{flag|Israel}}

| branch =

{{Tree list}}

{{tree list/end}}

| service_years = 1990–2001

| rank = Rav séren (Major)

}}

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Retsef Levi ({{langx|he|רצף לוי}}; born March 7, 1971) is an Israeli applied mathematician and management scientist. He is the J. Spencer Standish Professor of Operations Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).{{Cite web |date=2025-04-14 |title=Retsef Levi, J. Spencer Standish (1945) Professor of Operations Management |url=https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/retsef-levi |access-date=2025-06-18 |website= |publisher=MIT Sloan School of Management |language=en}}

In June 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, appointed Levi as a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).{{Cite journal |last1=Ledford |first1=Heidi |last2=Fieldhouse |first2=Rachel |date=2025-06-12 |title=Who is on RFK Jr's new vaccine panel — and what will they do? |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01852-z |journal=Nature |language=en |doi=10.1038/d41586-025-01852-z |pmid=40514522 |issn=1476-4687}}

Early life and education

Levi was born on March 7, 1971, in Tel Aviv, Israel.{{Cite thesis |last=Levi |first=Retsef |title=Computing Provably Near-Optimal Policies for Stochastic Inventory Control Models |date=2005 |access-date=18 June 2025 |degree=PhD |publisher=Cornell University |url=https://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?PublicationDocumentID=7654}} He is a brother of Israeli screenwriter Reshef Levi and Israeli author Yannets Levi.{{Cite news |last=Arlosoroff |first=Meirav |date=January 22, 2021 |title=Three lockdowns, but still many COVID deaths: How Israel failed to manage the pandemic |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-01-22/ty-article/.premium/unprofessional-opaque-and-aimless-experts-weigh-in-on-israels-pandemic-failures/0000017f-f37c-d8a1-a5ff-f3fe627e0000 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250417025033/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-01-22/ty-article/.premium/unprofessional-opaque-and-aimless-experts-weigh-in-on-israels-pandemic-failures/0000017f-f37c-d8a1-a5ff-f3fe627e0000 |archive-date=2025-04-17 |access-date=2025-06-19 |work=Haaretz |language=en}}

From 1990 to 2001, Levi served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Beginning in 1991, he was an intelligence officer of the elite Israeli Intelligence Corps, first as a lieutenant intelligence analyst (1990–1992), then as a captain (1992–1994) and then major, or Rav séren (1994–1996).

While serving in the Israeli military, Levi graduated summa cum laude from Tel Aviv University in 2001 with a B.Sc. in mathematics. He then completed doctoral studies in the United States at Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D. in operations research and mathematical programming{{Cite web |date=2018 |title=Profile: Retsef Levi |url=https://www.mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=92033 |access-date=18 June 2025 |publisher=Mathematics Genealogy Project}} in 2005 under professors Robin Roundy and David Shmoys. His dissertation was titled, "Computing Provably Near-Optimal Policies for Stochastic Inventory Control Models".{{Cite web |date=January 2025 |title=Curriculum Vitae: Retsef Levi |url=https://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?PersonID=41407&DocID=12731 |access-date=2025-06-18 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology}} Professors James Renegar and Shane Henderson also advised Levi's thesis.

Career

Levi is an expert in analytics, risk management, and health systems. After receiving his doctorate, Levi completed postdoctoral research at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, where he was the Goldstine Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Mathematical Sciences. He became an assistant professor of management in 2006 at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he held a position as a Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor. He was promoted to an associate professor with tenure in July 2009 and received the school's appointment as its J. Spencer Standish Professor of Operations Management in July 2010.

Levi was associate editor of the peer-reviewed academic journals Management Science (from 2009 to 2014), Mathematics of Operations Research (from 2009 to 2015), Naval Research Logistics (from 2009 to 2015), and Operations Research (from 2011 to 2018).

In 2021, Israeli minister of education Yoav Gallant appointed Levi to a panel of experts tasked with advising the government on the reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. Levi was a critic of the Israeli Ministry of Health's policy of closing schools during the pandemic, which he considered unnecessary.

= Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, 2025 =

Levi is a critic of COVID-19 lockdowns and mRNA vaccines, and a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic.{{Cite web |last=Bonavitacola |first=Julia |date=2025-06-12 |title=Vaccine Skeptics Among CDC Vaccine Panel Replacements Named by RFK Jr |url=https://www.ajmc.com/view/vaccine-skeptics-among-cdc-vaccine-panel-replacements-named-by-rfk-jr |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=The American Journal of Managed Care |language=en}} He has published papers on the mortality rates of COVID-19 vaccines.{{Cite web |last=Gilson |first=Grace |date=13 June 2025 |title=RFK appoints anti-mRNA technology Israeli MIT professor to vaccine advisory panel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/rfk-appoints-anti-mrna-technology-israeli-mit-professor-to-vaccine-advisory-panel/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US}} He wrote on Twitter in 2023 that “the evidence is mounting and indisputable that mRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death, especially among young people".{{Cite news |last=Stolberg |first=Sheryl Gay |date=2025-06-11 |title=Kennedy Announces Eight New Members of C.D.C. Vaccine Advisory Panel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/us/politics/rfk-jr-cdc-vaccine-panel.html |access-date=2025-06-18 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} On June 11, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced that he appointed Levi as one of the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Selected publications

  • {{Cite journal |last1=Sun |first1=Christopher L. F. |last2=Jaffe |first2=Eli |last3=Levi |first3=Retsef |date=2022-04-28 |title=Increased emergency cardiovascular events among under-40 population in Israel during vaccine rollout and third COVID-19 wave |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=6978 |doi=10.1038/s41598-022-10928-z |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=9048615 |pmid=35484304|bibcode=2022NatSR..12.6978S }}
  • {{Cite journal |last1=Levi |first1=Retsef |last2=Schurr |first2=Efrat |date=January 22, 2024 |title=Miscarriage after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: A request to report more details of the regression models and analyses |url=https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.17767 |journal=International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics |volume=131 |issue=9 |page=1322 |doi=10.1111/1471-0528.17767|pmid=38247342 }}
  • {{Cite journal |last1=Levi |first1=Retsef |last2=Magnanti |first2=Thomas |last3=Shaposhnik |first3=Yaron |date=2024-05-01 |title=Scheduling with Testing of Heterogeneous Jobs |url=https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4833 |journal=Management Science |volume=70 |issue=5 |pages=2934–2953 |doi=10.1287/mnsc.2023.4833 |issn=0025-1909}}
  • {{Citation |last1=Levi |first1=Retsef |title=Twelve-Month All-Cause Mortality after Initial COVID-19 Vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech or mRNA-1273 among Adults Living in Florida |date=2025-04-29 |url=https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.25.25326460v1 |access-date=2025-06-19 |publisher=medRxiv |language=en |doi=10.1101/2025.04.25.25326460 |last2=Mansuri |first2=Fahad |last3=Jordan |first3=Melissa M. |last4=Ladapo |first4=Joseph A. |author-link4=Joseph Ladapo}}.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Retesf}}

Category:Israeli mathematicians

Category:Israeli management consultants

Category:Tel Aviv University alumni

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:1971 births

Category:Living people

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty