Stephen M. Levin

Stephen M. Levin (October 16, 1941 – February 7, 2012) was the medical director of the Mount Sinai Irving Selikoff Center for Occupational Health, a professor of occupational medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the co-director of the World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program.{{cite magazine|last=Halper|first=Katie|title=Remembering Dr. Stephen Levin|url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/166246/remembering-dr-stephen-levin|magazine=The Nation|date=14 February 2012 |access-date=14 February 2012}}{{cite web|title=ADAO Memorial Dedication to Dr. Stephen Levin|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMu-lNHNt-o|publisher=Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization}} He graduated from Wesleyan University and New York University School of Medicine,{{Cite web |author=Celeste Monforton |date=February 9, 2012 |title=Remembering Stephen M. Levin, MD, a clinician, scientist, advocate |website=ScienceBlogs |url=https://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/09/remembering-stephen-m-levin-md |access-date=2025-01-10 |language=en}}

He was recognized in the field of occupational medicine, particularly for his work on behalf of 9/11 workers and those injured by asbestos in Libby, Montana.[http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673612605017.pdf Obituary, Stephen Levin, The Lancet, published March 31, 2012]{{Cite news |last=Halper |first=Katie |date=2012-02-14 |title=Remembering Dr. Stephen Levin |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/remembering-dr-stephen-levin/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |language=en-US |issn=0027-8378}}

Career

Levin was born and raised in Philadelphia to working-class parents; his father was a carpenter, and his mother was a hospital worker.

He graduated from the New York University School of Medicine in 1967. Levin then practiced general medicine in Pottstown, Pennsylvania for a decade.

After completing his training in occupational medicine, he joined the faculty at Mount Sinai, where he spent the remainder of his career, eventually becoming a full professor in 2011.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

Levin became the medical director of the Mount Sinai Selikoff Center in 1987. He was involved in the occupational medicine teaching program for medical students and residents, and his research interests included asbestos-related diseases, other occupational lung diseases, and heavy metal toxicity.{{Cite journal |last=Watts |first=Geoff |date=2012-03-31 |title=Stephen Michael Levin |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60501-7/abstract |journal=The Lancet |language=English |volume=379 |issue=9822 |page=1192 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60501-7 |s2cid=54298694 |issn=0140-6736|doi-access=free }}

Levin consulted for the New York State, New Jersey, and New York City Departments of Health regarding the health hazards of environmental pollutants.
In the 1990s, Levin advocated for federal and New York State authorities to require respirators and vacuum hoses to protect bridge workers from lead poisoning.[https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/91-116/ NIOSH Publication: Request for Assistance in Preventing Lead Poisoning in Construction Workers]
In 2000 and 2004, Levin's research and testimony assisted in the conviction of Joseph Thorn, his son Alexander, and Raul Salvagno, owners of asbestos abatement companies in New York. The Salvagnos secretly co-owned a lab that produced 75,000 fraudulent laboratory analysis results on asbestos levels.
Levin was one of the two primary investigators for a project on asbestos exposure among electrical power generation workers in Puerto Rico.
Levin was also the primary investigator for a project in Libby, Montana, a mining town where thousands of workers and residents had been exposed to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore.[http://www.libbyasbestos.org/ Center for Asbestos Related Disease, Libby Montana]

World Trade Center workers

Days after the World Trade Center attacks, Levin and his colleagues began planning what would become the clinic for WTC responders.[http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/service-areas/community-medicine/areas-of-care/wtc-medical-monitoring-and-treatment-program/about-the-world-trade-center-health-program Mount Sinai World Trade Center Health Program] A study by the clinic three years later documented that ninety percent of the 10,116 firefighters and other responders reported an acute cough within the first 48 hours. The clinic, which received more than $12 million from the government, screened and treated more than 20,000 workers and released over a dozen studies. One 2006 study showed that approximately 30% of the 12,000 patients screened suffered from chronic asthma and bronchitis, and 17% suffered from PTSD and depression.

Levin contributed to the passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, legislation designed to ensure that the 9/11 first responders receive basic medical necessities as a result of their toxic exposures.STAT. 3624 PUBLIC LAW 111-347- JAN. 2, 2011. TITLE XXX111 - WORLD TRADE CENTER HEALTH PROGRAM Subtitle A - Establishment of Program Advisory Committee. Section 3301. ESTABLISHMENT OF WORLD TRADE CENTER PROGRAM (a).(1).

References

Category:1941 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:Wesleyan University alumni

Category:New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni

Category:Physicians from Philadelphia

Category:Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Stephen M. Levin

Career

World Trade Center workers

See also

References