Invited Symposium 1: Traumatic Brain Injury: Highlighting the Contributions of Dr. Harvey S. Levin Ph.D., ABPP-CN, FACSM 1946 - 2022
Randall Scott Scheibel, PhD
Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Houston, Texas, USA
Credit Hours: No CE credit will be assigned for this session
Invited Symposium 1: Traumatic Brain Injury: Highlighting the Contributions of Dr. Harvey S. Levin Ph.D., ABPP-CN, FACSM 1946 - 2022
Abstract:
Harvey S. Levin obtained his Bachelor’s degree from City College of New York, in New York city, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, completed his internships in Clinical Neuropsychology and Pediatric Psychology at the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City and Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, and his fellowship in Neuropsychology at University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City.
Dr. Levin started his career in 1972 as Instructor with the Department of Psychology at the University of Iowa and transitioned to The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas, in 1974, where he began an internationally renowned career in clinical work, teaching, and, most of all, pioneering research on traumatic brain injury (TBI). He ultimately became the Chela and Jimmy Storm Distinguished Professor in Surgical Research, Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery in 1987. After leaving Texas for two years to take a position with the University of Maryland Medical System and Shock Trauma Institute in Baltimore, he moved back to Houston Texas in 1995 and established the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (CNL) within the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine, which was supported by federal grants, including funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and numerous private foundations. The CNL integrated rehabilitation and neuroplasticity research with multimodality brain imaging, clinical and neuropsychological assessment, and fluid biomarkers. Dr. Levin was Professor with the Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation where he served as Director of Research (1995-2014), Pediatrics, and Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He was also a Research Scientist and the Director of the Center of Excellence for Traumatic Brain Injury at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (2008-2013), and Adjunct Professor with the Department of Psychology at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Levin’s research focused on investigating both acute and long-term outcomes of mild to severe TBI in civilian and military populations, including cognitive and behavioral sequelae in relation to neuropathology using advanced brain imaging modalities. He began prospective, longitudinal studies of adults and children who had sustained TBI associated with closed head trauma upon joining UTMB and developed, in collaboration with Drs O’Donnell and Grossman, the Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test (GOAT). The GOAT was the first measure to assess post-traumatic amnesia and orientation following moderate to severe TBI, is still most widely used by the clinicians and researchers, and it has been translated to 16 languages. The original publication, “Levin HS, O'Donnell VM, Grossman RG. The Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test. A practical scale to assess cognition after head injury. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1979 Nov;167(11):675-84. doi: 10.1097/00005053-197911000-00004. PMID: 501342”, has over 1200 citations. This work continued with participation in the NINDS Traumatic Coma Data Bank and the organization of outcome assessments for NINDS-funded clinical trials of hypothermia to treat severe TBI. To monitor the quality of outcome data across performing sites, Dr. Levin and colleagues developed a code for the reliability of data collected and implemented the role of an outcome monitor who evaluated adherence to protocol across sites. Following establishment of the CNL, he pursued investigation of TBI outcomes across the lifespan using multimodality brain imaging and biomarkers, errorless learning, translational studies in collaboration with neuroscientists using animal models, and clinical trials of methylphenidate, progesterone, CDP-choline. Dr. Levin spent over 30 years researching neurobehavioral outcomes of head injury in children, starting with a small pilot study funded by the Shriners Hospital in 1991 and continuing with several cycles of a multicenter R01 grant funded by the National Institute of Health. In later years, he used his expertise as a member of several large consortiums, including the Long-term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC) funded by the VA and DoD and the Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury (TRACK-TBI) funded by the NINDS.
During his career, Dr. Levin authored and co-authored more than 400 articles in scientific journals and over 100 books, with one of them, “Levin, H. S., Benton, A. L., & Grossman, R. G. (1982). Neurobehavioral consequences of closed head injury. Oxford University Press, USA”, having over 1100 citation, as well as book chapters that advanced knowledge of TBI, epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, and other illnesses that affect brain functioning. He was also very active as a reviewer on federal grant panels and as an editor and reviewer for the Journal of Neurotrauma, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Neuropsychology, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Lancet, JAMA, Pediatrics, and other top-cited journals. He served as president of the International Neuropsychological Society in 1989-1990. Dr. Levin was a recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, the Jennett-Plum Award for Research on Traumatic Brain Injury, the Distinguished Career Award by the International Neuropsychological Society, the American Congress of Rehabilitation Gold Key Award, the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Neuropsychology Award from the National Academy of Neuropsychology, as well as awards from other head injury and psychological organizations, including the International Brain Injury Association, the National Head Injury Foundation, the North American Brain Injury Society, Texas Psychological Association, and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.
In addition to his stellar scientific accomplishments, Dr. Levin trained, mentored, and provided supervision to interns, fellows, postdocs, residents, medical and psychology students. He was the Director of an NCMRR/NIH T32 Postdoctoral Research Program, and training supervisor in neuropsychology for Baylor College of Medicine and for the Memorial Hermann TIRR Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs. A passionate educator, he taught classes at Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Houston, and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School in Greece and served as an evaluator for the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology/American Board of Professional Psychology. He was often invited as a lecturer at numerous scientific organizations.
The main objective of this symposium is to provide an overview of the current state of research in TBI while highlighting Dr. Levin’s contributions to this field. The symposium will start with a brief overview of Dr. Levin’s career (Dr. Randall S. Scheibel), followed by presentations focused on the assessment of adult TBI, including posttraumatic amnesia (Dr. Felicia C. Goldstein), the current state of pediatric TBI (Dr. L. Ewing-Cobbs), and novel imaging in TBI (Dr. Erin D. Bigler). There will be a brief discussion session at the end lead by Dr. Elisabeth A. Wilde.
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Randall Scott Scheibel is a Professor with the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Baylor College of Medicine and a Research Health Scientist at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He received his doctorate in Clinical Neuropsychology from the University of Houston and completed postdoctoral fellowships through the Henry Ford Medical Center in Detroit and the University of California, Lost Angeles. Dr. Scheibel’s research career has focused on the study of traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, and neural networks associated with attention and executive functions. This work has often involved the use of structural and functional neuroimaging techniques to study brain-behavior relationships and track alterations associated with neuropathology and treatment. Dr. Scheibel is currently the Houston site Principal Investigator for the Long-Term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury/Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC). He has been a Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on research grants funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and private foundations.
Felicia C. Goldstein, PhD
Department of Neurology (Neuropsychology Program), Emory University School of Medicine. Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Felicia C. Goldstein is a Professor of Neurology (Neuropsychology Program) at Emory University School of Medicine. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She received her Ph.D. at Emory University and did postdoctoral fellowships at the Emory Center for Rehabilitation Medicine and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Goldstein is Board Certified in neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology/American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Her research interests have focused on the neurobehavioral consequences of TBI in older adults, early detection of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, health disparities, and the contribution of vascular comorbidities to disease features and progression in both normal and pathological aging.
Linda Ewing-Cobbs, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics and Harriet and Joe Foster Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Children’s Learning Institute and Department of Pediatrics at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas, USA
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Linda Ewing-Cobbs is a Professor of Pediatrics and Harriet and Joe Foster Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Children’s Learning Institute and Department of Pediatrics at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, USA. Dr. Ewing-Cobbs received her graduate degrees in Clinical Neuropsychology from the University of Houston. She oversees multidisciplinary clinics providing diagnostic assessment services to children and adults with acquired or developmental differences. She is currently the Principal Investigator or Co-investigator on several grants funded by the National Institutes of Health and industry-sponsored projects examining profiles of neuroimaging and behavioral outcomes as well as cellular and behavioral interventions for children and adults with TBI and other injuries.
Erin D. Bigler, PhD, ABPP/CN
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience from Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah, USA
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Erin D. Bigler is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience from Brigham Young University (BYU), who served as Chair of the Psychology Department from 1996 through 2002. In 1990, he established the Brain Imaging and Behavior Laboratory at BYU, which studies the role of neuroimaging variables in cognitive and neurobehavioral disorders such as traumatic brain injuries, neurodevelopmental disorders including autism and learning disabilities, anoxic brain injuries and other acquired injuries of the brain as well as aging and Alzheimer’s disease. He is an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah and a Volunteer Professor of Neurology at the University of California-Davis. In 2013, he was the Founding Director of BYU’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Facility. Dr. Bigler has been practicing since 1975 and is a Diplomate in clinical neuropsychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. Past President of the International Neuropsychological Society (2014-2015). Past President of the National Academy of Neuropsychology (1989-1990). Written several neuropsychological tests, authored and/or edited 11 textbooks and published over 300 peer-reviewed articles. One of the founding associate editors for two journals in the field — the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (JINS) and Brain Imaging and Behavior. Awards: 1999, he received the Distinguished Clinical Neuropsychologist Award from the National Academy of Neuropsychology, where he was President of that organization from 1989-1990. In 1999, he was also the recipient of the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award, BYU’s top faculty honor.
Elisabeth A. Wilde, PhD
Professor University of Utah Department of Neurology, George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Elisabeth Wilde is a Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Utah. She also holds an appointment as a Health Research Scientist at the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System. Her research interests include the use of advanced forms of neuroimaging to enhance diagnosis and prognosis, monitor recovery and neurodegeneration, evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic intervention, and elucidate aspects of neuroplasticity in traumatic brain injury. As a clinical neuropsychologist, she has an interest in brain-behavior relationships involving cognitive, neurological, and functional outcome and clinical trials in traumatic brain injury and associated comorbidities. For the last 20 years, she has worked with patients with traumatic brain injury and concussion across a spectrum of age, severity, and acuity, with particular interests in children and adolescents, athletes, and Veteran and Active Duty Service Members with concussion or traumatic brain injury. She has participated in over 40 federally-funded clinical projects in TBI, and has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Wilde is currently the Director of the Neuroimaging Core for the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs co-funded Long-term Impact of Military-relevant Brain Injury Consortium (LIMBIC)/Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC) Neuroimaging Core and has been actively involved in the International Common Data Elements (CDE) initiative and co-leads the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics Meta-analysis (ENIGMA) Working Group for TBI.