Deborah Levy

Team Investigator

Dr. Deborah Levy is a Staff Rheumatologist and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and Team Investigator at the SickKids Research Institute. She has received local and national honours, and most recently was awarded a Department of Paediatrics Clinical Excellence Award, and the 2018 Ontario Rheumatologist of the Year Award.

She is the clinic director of the Paediatric Lupus clinic at SickKids, and her research focuses on long-term outcomes of childhood-onset lupus. Other interests include Advocacy and Models of Care in Paediatric Rheumatology, ensuring access to care for patients in underserved areas of Ontario. She is the Vice-President – Paediatric of the Ontario Rheumatology Association and Past-Chair of the Paediatric Committee of the Canadian Rheumatology Association.

Research

Dr. Levy’s research areas include collaborative studies in systemic lupus erythematosus, including long-term outcomes of SLE and neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE), and national collaborative research initiatives in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Education

• 1991–1995: Medical Degree, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 1995–1999: Paediatrics Residency and Chief Residency, Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY, NY
• 1999–2000: Clinical Fellow, Thrombosis and Hemostasis, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2000–2001: Fellow, Paediatric Rheumatology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 2001–2003: Fellow, Paediatric Rheumatology, Columbia University, NY, NY USA
• 2003–2005: Masters of Science, Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Experience

• 2003–2009: Attending Physician, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Paediatrics, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University, NY, NY, USA
• 2009–2010: Physician, Paediatric Rheumatology, Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga, ON, Canada
• 2009–2010: Physician, Paediatric Rheumatology, Children’s Hospital, London Health Sciences Center, London, ON, Canada
• 2009–2015: Physician, Paediatric Rheumatology, Department of Family/Child, Paediatrics, Rheumatology Health Clinic, Health Sciences North, Sudbury, ON, Canada
• 2009–present: Staff, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

Achievements

• 2023: Dr. Richard Rowe Award for Clinical Excellence, Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2018–present: Vice-President (Paediatric), Board of Directors, Ontario Rheumatology Association.
• 2018–present: Past Chair, Paediatric Committee, Canadian Rheumatology Association
• 2015–2018: Chair, Paediatric Committee, Canadian Rheumatology Association
• 2017: Invited Member, Rheumatology Working Group of Models of Care for Inflammatory Arthritis in Ontario
• 2016: Chair, Provincial Paediatric Rheumatology Models of Care ACPAC Educational Meeting
• 2013–present: Secretary, Executive Member, Canadian Network for Improved Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (CaNIOS)
• 2018: Ontario Rheumatologist of the Year Award, Ontario Rheumatology Association, Ontario, Canada
• 2016: Clinical Excellence Award, Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

1. Webber D, Cao J, Dominguez D, Gladman DD, Levy DM, Ng L, Paterson AD, Touma Z, Urowitz MB, Wither JE, Silverman ED, Hiraki LT.  Association of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), genetic susceptibility loci with lupus nephritis in childhood-onset and adults-onset SLE.  Rheumatol. 2020 Jan 1;59(1):90-98.  
2. Kim H, Levy DM, Hitchon C, Bernatsky S, Pineau C, Smith CD, Tucker L, Petty R, Arbillaga H, Zummer M, Silverman ED, Hudson M, Fortin P, Huber AM, Chedeville G, Peschken C, Pope JE. A Comparison between childhood and adult onset SLE adjusted for ethnicity from the 1000 Canadian Faces of Lupus Cohort. Rheumatol. 2019 Feb 25. [Epub ahead of print]. 
3. Keeling SO, Alabdurubalnabi Z, Avina-Zubieta A, Barr S, Bergeron L, Bernatsky S, Bourre-Tessier J, Clarke A, Baril-Dionne A, Dutz J, Ensworth S, Fifi-Mah A, Fortin PR, Gladman DD, Haaland D, Hanly JG, Hiraki LT, Hussein S, Legault K, Levy DM, Lim L, Matsos M, McDonald EG, Medina-Rosas J, Pardo Pardi J, Peschken C, Pineau C, Pope J, Rader T, Reynolds J, Silverman E, Tselios K, Suitner M, Urowitz M, Touma Z, Vinet E, Santesso N. Canadian Rheumatology Association Recommendations for the Assessment and Monitoring of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. J. Rheumatol. 2018 Oct;45(10): 1426-1439.
4. Borgia RE, Gerstein M, Levy DM, Silverman ED, Hiraki LT.  Features, Treatment and Outcomes of Macrophage Activation Syndrome in Childhood-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.  Arthritis Rheumatol.  2018 Apr;70(4):616-624.
5. Yang Y, Kumar S, Lim SHL, Silverman ED, Levy DM.  Risk Factors for Symptomatic Avascular Necrosis in Childhood-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.  J Rheumatol. 2015 Dec;42(12):2304-09