Dr. Arthur Levine announced on Jan. 23 that he is beginning the process to step down from his roles as senior vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine.
In those roles, Levine is the highest-paid University officer with a base pay of $843,438 and total compensation of $1.2 million, according to Pitt’s 990 IRS form for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
Chancellor Patrick Gallagher has asked Levine to stay on in his leadership positions, which include oversight of 31 academic departments, until his successor can be found. No timetable for the search has been announced yet.
In the meantime, Levine will begin the transition process in the next few months by opening a new laboratory in the University’s Brain Institute, where he will pursue Alzheimer’s disease research, according to a Pitt news release.
Levine, a professor of medicine and molecular genetics, came to Pitt in 1998 after three decades at the National Institutes of Health.
“It’s difficult to overstate the remarkable impact that Art has had on the University of Pittsburgh, our School of Medicine, our health sciences programs, and UPMC,” Gallagher said in the news release. “His commitment to research and academic excellence is unparalleled and has fueled our University’s unprecedented rise as a leader in leveraging knowledge for society’s gain.”
One area of impact the University cited was the Longitudinal Research Project, a Levine-authored curriculum change that requires all Pitt medical students to complete a mentored, independent research assignment over the course of their education. This how now become a best practice nationwide.
Under his leadership, Pitt established the nation’s first Department of Critical Care Medicine in 2002, a new Department of Immunology in the same year, as well as the Department of Computational and Systems Biology (2004), the Department of Structural Biology (2005), the Department of Biomedical Informatics (2006) and the Department of Developmental Biology (2009), among others.
During his tenure, Pitt’s medical school has stayed among the top 10 academic centers for research funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Levine received the Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service Medals of the U.S. Public Health Service, the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal, the NIH Director’s Award, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Chicago Medical School, from which he received his medical degree in 1964.
For more details on Levine’s career, click here.