Elad I. Levy () is an American neurosurgeon who played a role in the development and testing of
thrombectomy
Mechanical thrombectomy, or simply thrombectomy, is the removal of a blood clot (thrombus) from a blood vessel, often and especially endovascularly as an interventional radiology procedure called endovascular thrombectomy (EVT). It thus contr ...
, which improved quality of life and survival of
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
patients. He has focused his career and research on developing evidence based medicine and literature showing the benefits of thrombectomy for the treatment of stroke. He is Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology, and the L. Nelson Hopkins, MD Professor Endowed Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the
State University of New York at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public research university in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1846 a ...
(SUNY).
In 2011 Levy founded and is the president for the Program for Understanding Childhood Concussion & Stroke (PUCCS), which has raised over $750,000 which is aimed towards promoting research and preventing
concussions
A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brie ...
in all sports. In addition Levy is co-chair of CycleNation for the
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...
raising over $500,000 geared towards prevention and education of stroke and heart disease. In 2013 he became the unaffiliated National Football League (NFL) Neurotrauma consultant for the
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
. In 2017 he was appointed as one of 12 National Directors to the
American Board of Neurological Surgeons. In 2018 he was appointed Secretary to the
Congress of Neurological Surgeons Executive Committee and also appointed to the Ethics Committee for the
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a professional organization focused on advancing the specialty of neurological surgery. Founded in 1931, the AANS serves a membership of over 12,000 professionals worldwide, including ne ...
. Levy served as the president for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons annual scientific meeting in September 2023.
He is also the Director of Stroke Research and Director of Endovascular Stroke Treatment and Research at the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, co-director of
Kaleida Health Stroke Center at the
Gates Vascular Institute, and co-director of Cerebrovascular Surgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo.
In 2020 Levy received his appointment as Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo due to his contributions to research, innovation, leadership and academia.
In 2025 Levy was named Physician Leader and Medical Director of the Neuroscience service line at Kaleida Health. Levy also served as the neurosurgery consultant for season 2 and season 3 of TV show Grey's Anatomy.
Early life and education
Levy was born in
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
, Israel in 1972 where he lived with his parents and grandparents. His father went to medical school in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, where Levy learned to speak Italian, in addition to English in school and Hebrew at home. At the age of seven, he immigrated to the United States. After his father's residency training in obstetrics and gynecology in New York City, his family settled in rural northern upstate New York close to
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, where his dad joined a solo Obstetrics and gynecology practice. Growing up, Levy spent his summers with his father's family in Israel. Levy attended local schools before his last two years of High School, which he spent at
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall ( ) is a Independent school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational, College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1890, it took its present na ...
, a private boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut.
Higher education and training
Levy went to Dartmouth College to study
molecular biology
Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...
and
biochemistry
Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...
. He began medical school in 1993 at The
in Washington, D.C.,
where he became interested in Orthopedic Surgery. However, when he did not secure the summer orthopedic internship after his freshman year, he chose to do a summer research project with Dr. Laligam Sekhar, the Chairman of Neurosurgery at George Washington University at the time, since then neurosurgery became his focus.
Following graduation in 1997, Levy began his surgical internships and training in neurosurgery at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
. Following in the footsteps of Dr.
Peter Jannetta, the "father of microvascular decompression," and Dr. Dade Lunsford, who introduced Gamma-knife radiosurgery to the University of Pittsburgh, Levy pursued minimally invasive endovascular neurosurgery by spending 2 years of his residency in Buffalo, as a fellow under Dr.
L. Nelson Hopkins, the "father of neurointerventional surgery".
He completed his fellowship training in 2003 and returned to Pittsburgh to finish his residency training in 2004.
In later years, Levy also completed his
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
at Northeastern University and graduated
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
in 2013.
Academic and professional career
Levy started his academic and professional career as an associate professor of neurosurgery and radiology at the
State University of New York
The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...
(SUNY) at Buffalo in 2004. The following year in 2005, he became the Director for Stroke Research, and co-director of Cerebrovascular Surgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo. He was also appointed as co-director of Kaleida Health Stroke Center and the Director of Endovascular Stroke Treatment and Research in 2006. He also served as the Endovascular Fellowship Program Director for the Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo from 2006 to 2013.
In 2010, Levy was promoted to the title of Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology. Subsequently, in 2013 when Hopkins retired as the Chair of Neurosurgery, Levy became chairman.
Since then he more than doubled the size of the faculty
From 2017 to 2023 Levy served as the director of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons and from 2022 to 2023 he served as the Vice Chair of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons Levy championed the pathway for ABNS board certification for exemplary internationally trained neurosurgeons.
In 2021 Levy helped pioneer the next generation of neuroendovascular care opening up the first Ambulatory Neurosurgery Center (ANSC) creating a paradigm shift in the treatment of vascular diseases of the brain. In 2024 he performed the first case of a complex aneurysm treatment in an awake patient in the ambulatory setting
Selected awards and recognitions
* 2024: Dacey Medal for outstanding cerebrovascular research
* 2024: Duke Samson Award for the COMMAND Trial
* 2023: Elected into AOA Honor Medical Society
* 2022-2023: President of the
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
* 2020: Distinguished Professor at State University of New York at Buffalo
* 2018: Awarded the Drake Lectureship at the
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
* 2018 : "Teacher of the year Award" by Residents and Fellows at the University at Buffalo Neurosurgery for dedication to teaching and mentoring, given by the Department of Family Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
* 2016: Recipient of the L. Nelson Hopkins, MD Professor and Endowed Chair of Neurosurgery Award
* 2015: The
George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
"Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award" for special recognition of professional accomplishments.
* 2014: State University of New York "Chancellor's Award" for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities
* 2014: Recipient of the "2014 Hero of the Heart" Award for the American Heart Association in Western New York.
Research
Levy has helped the endovascular treatment modalities for stroke. His research work focuses on neurovascular diseases such as stroke, brain aneurysms and vessel malformations. He has published and lectured on the endovascular techniques for cerebrovascular disorders, publishing over 600 peer-reviewed publications and more than 200 book chapters, including his latest book titled "Video Atlas of Acute Ischemic Stroke Intervention".
He has also contributed several live cases for national and international meetings as well as for community education.
He was the US Interventional Principal Investigator for the SWIFT PRIME trials. Levy is the Principal investigator for the COMMAND trial and in 2023 he became the first surgeon to implant the stentrode, a novel stent in that is used for brain computer interface to help patients with limited mobility to operate technology such as mobile devices and computers using their thoughts helping these patients gain back independence. This study demonstrated that brain signals related to the motor intent can be consistently captured and transformed into digital motor outputs allowing the participants to successfully perform digital tasks. For his work on the COMMAND trial Levy was awarded the Duke Samson award at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in 2024. Levy's research contributiuons is in the top two percentile among all academics in the neuroscience space and holds an
H-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...
of 101.
Selected publications
A partial list of articles is provided below:
* Thrombectomy 6 to 24 Hours after Stroke with Mismatch between Deficit and Infarct
* Safety and Efficacy of a 3-Dimensional Stent Retriever With Aspiration-Based Thrombectomy vs Aspiration-Based Thrombectomy Alone in Acute Ischemic Stroke Intervention: A Randomized Clinical Trial
* Results of the ANSWER Trial using the PulseRider for the Treatment of Broad-Necked, Bifurcation Aneurysms
* Long-Term Clinical and Angiographic Outcomes Following Pipeline Embolization Device Treatment of Complex Internal Carotid Artery Aneurysms: Five-Year Results of the Pipeline for Uncoilable or Failed Aneurysms Trial
* Endovascular Thrombectomy After Large-Vessel Ischaemic Stroke: A Meta-Analysis of Individual Patient Data from Five Randomised Trials
* Safety and Efficacy of Solitaire Stent Thrombectomy: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials
* Stent-Retriever Thrombectomy after Intravenous t-PA vs. t-PA Alone in Stroke
* Aggressive Medical Treatment With or Without Stenting in High-risk Patients with Intracranial Artery Stenosis (SAMMPRIS): The Final Results of a Randomised Trial
* Pipeline for Uncoilable or Failed Aneurysms: Results from a Multicenter Clinical Trial
* Solitaire Flow Restoration Device versus the Merci Retriever in Acute Ischaemic Stroke (SWIFT): A Randomized, Parallel-Group, Non-Inferiority Trial
* Stenting versus Aggressive Medical Therapy for Intracranial Arterial Stenosis
Selected academic books
Levy has published on neurovascular diseases including this three part series highlighting decision-making and providing video examples of complex neurovascular procedures and stroke intervention techniques
*Decision Making in Neurovascular Disease
*Video Atlas of Neuroendovascular Procedures
*Video Atlas of Acute Ischemic Stroke Intervention
Levy has also edited numerous books on neurovascular diseases outlined below
*Complications in Endovascular Surgery: Peri-procedural prevention and treatment
*Neuroendovascular Surgery
*Acute Stroke Management in the First 24 Hours: A Practical Guide for Clinicians
[https://www.gettextbooks.com/isbn/9780190856519/]
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Elad
Living people
1972 births
American neurosurgeons
Dartmouth College alumni
George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences alumni
State University of New York Upstate Medical University faculty
Northeastern University alumni
University at Buffalo faculty
Israeli neurosurgeons