New Division Chief Joins the Department of Surgery
On June 1, 2020, Benjamin Levi, M.D., arrived in Texas to serve as chief of the Division of Burn, Trauma, Acute and Critical Care Surgery (BTACC). Dr. Levi comes to UT Southwestern from the University of Michigan, where he was the director of the Burn/Wound and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory and associate director of the burn surgery service. That laboratory has been transferred to our campus and will continues its focus on extremity trauma and cell fate, including the areas of heterotopic ossification, muscle fibrosis, tendon injury, and burn injury. The lab’s mission is to “identify novel diagnostic and treatment modalities to improve the lives of civilian trauma patients and combat casualties.”
In addition to directing his laboratory, Dr. Levi will also serve as director of the Center for Organogenesis and Trauma. The mission of this center is to improve the lives of children and adults living with injury and diseases of the skin, organs, and musculoskeletal system through rigorous science, innovation, collaboration, and compassion. The center will be a unique basic science/translational research infrastructure in the Department of Surgery, bringing people, ideas, and resources together to improve recruitment, retention, and funding.
Dr. Levi has secondary appointments with the Department of Plastic Surgery, the Charles and Jane Pak Center for Mineral Metabolism and Clinical Research, and the Children’s Research Institute. He also holds the Dr. Lee Hudson-Robert R. Penn Chair in Surgery and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has received the Fuller Albright Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research as well as young investigator awards from the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
Dr. Levi is boarded-certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery and in surgical critical care. He is known nationally for his expertise in acute burn care and burn reconstruction. Dr. Levi has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has been continuously funded by the NIH and Department of Defense.