| To: | Keck School of Medicine Faculty and Staff |
| From: | Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., Dean |
| Date: | November 17, 2008 |
| Re: | Appointment of Pat Levitt, Ph.D., Director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute |
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Pat Levitt Ph.D. to the position of Director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute (ZNI) at the Keck School of Medicine, effective November 1. He also will serve as Chair and Professor of Cell and Neurobiology and Provost’s Professor of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, and Pharmacy, effective full-time July 1, 2009.
Dr. Levitt comes to USC from Vanderbilt University, where he is the Annette Schaffer Eskind Chair and Director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and a tenured professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The Kennedy Center is a university-wide institute that supports highly interdisciplinary research, diagnosis, treatment and community outreach programs and clinics that focus on developmental influences in behavior, communication, learning and memory.
The experience Dr. Levitt brings to USC is well suited for leadership of the ZNI, which was established in 2003. ZNI serves as part of an initiative to expand the neuroscience effort at USC by bringing together basic and clinical scientists to concentrate on a range of disorders that affect individuals from infants to senior citizens. Scientists at the Institute reach across boundaries to embrace methods and techniques from other fields of study, identifying new approaches to examine nervous system function so we may all better understand the underlying causes of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
As Director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Dr. Levitt is charged with:
- Implementing a strategic plan to understand the genetic and environmental basis for brain diseases
- Leading faculty recruitment efforts in collaboration with basic and clinical departments in the Keck School of Medicine, the USC School of Pharmacy and the Center for Genomic Psychiatry
- Developing plans to increase philanthropic efforts of the ZNI to enhance research and training efforts that will place the ZNI among the nation’s top neuroscience institutes in the country
In his role as Chair of the Department of Cell Neurobiology, Levitt will work to develop an education and training framework for substantive collaborative endeavors to address causes and cures of brain disease. As the Provost Professor of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, and Pharmacy, he will integrate neuroscience research, training and education programs across campus and in the community. As a provost professor, Dr. Levitt marks the third university appointment in the provost’s prestigious interdisciplinary scholar recruitment initiative, supporting and recognizing world-class recruits exhibiting scientific leadership in diverse fields.
Dr. Levitt has been with Vanderbilt University since 2002. Prior to that, he was chairman of the Department of Neurobiology and co-director of the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine from 1996 to 2001. Dr. Levitt has also held faculty positions at Yale University School of Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where he was appointed associate dean for the Graduate School of Medical Sciences.
Named a McKnight Foundation Scholar in 2002, Dr. Levitt is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Dr. Levitt serves on the editorial boards of the journals Autism Research, Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Disease Models and Mechanisms, Biological Psychiatry, Cerebral Cortex and Neuron. He was Senior Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience for six years.
Dr. Levitt has a long history of distinguished service to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in various advisory capacities. Of particular note, he is a member of the NIMH National Advisory Council, a high profile leadership position indicative of wide respect in the research community. He has published over 200 papers and is currently principal investigator of three NIH R01 grants and two NIH P50 program project grants (project leader). Dr. Levitt also has an excellent track record of foundation funding from the Simons Foundation, McKnight Endowment Fund, the Joseph and Esther Klingenstein Foundation, the March of Dimes, and other organizations.
Through his extensive research experience, Dr. Levitt will increase the university’s prominence in the field of developmental neuroscience—particularly in the areas of autism and schizophrenia—by adding innovative research and offering interdisciplinary courses and research opportunities to USC students through the ZNI, Keck School of Medicine and the USC School of Pharmacy.
Dr. Levitt received his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Chicago in 1975. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, in 1978 and completed an NIH Fellowship in Neuroanatomy at Yale University in 1981.
Dr. Levitt’s primary office and research laboratory will be located at the ZNI on San Pablo Street. Please join me in welcoming him to his new positions at USC.
Please also join me in acknowledging the leadership of Dr. Mikel Snow, who has served as Chair of Cell and Neurobiology since 2004, and Dr. Jeannie Chen, who has served as interim Director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute since 2005.
Download / View the actual memo (pdf) or Read the story at the USC News site.
