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SickKids

Deborah Levy

Title: Staff Physician and Clinical Director, Division of Rheumatology
Designations: MD, MS, FRCPC
Phone: 416-813-7711
Email: deborah.levy@sickkids.ca
Fax: 416-813-4989
Alternate Contact Name: Jeremae Jamorabon
Alternate Phone: 416-813-7654 ext. 428108
Alternate Email: jeremae.jamorabon@sickkids.ca
U of T Positions: Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics

Research Positions

Team Investigator

Biography

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

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

Experience

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

Achievements

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

Publications

  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 DMHitchon 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 

  • 2020: Co-Investigator. A Comprehensive Understanding of bone and muscle in children with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: a pilot study of bone-muscle interactions. Rare Disease Foundation Micro-grant Competition. Principal Investigator: Sarah West.
  • 2020–2022: Co-Principal Investigator. Benson Models of Care in Rheumatology Initiative Award. Evaluation of New models of care in Pediatric Rheumatology using The Advanced Clinician Practitioner in Arthritis Care. Co-PI: Roberta Berard.
  • 2018–2022: Site Principal Investigator. UCAN CURE: Precision decisions for childhood arthritis. Genome Canada and Ontario Genomics, Large-Scale Applied Research Project Competition, Genomics and Precision Health. Principal Investigator and Project Leader: Rae. S. M. Yeung.
  • 2017–2022: Collaborator. UCAN CAN-DU: Canada-Netherlands Personalized Medicine Network in Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatic Diseases. Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada-Netherlands Personalized Medicine in Immune Mediated Inflammatory Musculoskeletal Disease Network. Principal Investigator: Rae S.M. Yeung.
  • 2015–2018: Co-Investigator. Translating Research into Practice Identifying Factors that Influence the Uptake of Canadian Research Findings in the Clinical Care of Children with Arthritis. Canadian Initiative for Outcomes in Rheumatology Care (CIORA). Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Stringer.
  • 2014–2017: Principal Investigator. Evaluating a new Pilot Model of Care for Pediatric Rheumatology in Ontario. Hospital for Sick Children Paediatric Consultants Partnership Grants for Creative Professional Activity.
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