MCV Alumni Association names 2007 Outstanding Medical Alumnus

By Gayland Hethcoat
VCU Communications and Public Relations

The Medical College of Virginia Alumni Association has awarded a 1967 graduate, Myron M. Levine, M.D., the 2007 Outstanding Medical Alumnus Award.

“I am exceedingly proud and humbled by the honor of being selected to receive the 2007 Outstanding Medical Alumnus Award,” said Levine, cofounder and director of the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development. “My four years of medical school at MCV in the mid-1960s represent one of the most rewarding and exciting periods of my life.” 

A highly respected researcher whose specialties include geographic medicine and vaccine development, Levine said he traces the interests he pursues today to his clinical training here.

“It was at MCV that I developed an interest in pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases,” Levine said. “I had also always had a fascination with tropical medicine, and MCV encouraged and supported that interest of mine, which at that time was a bit unusual.”
   
Levine’s Outstanding Medical Alumnus Award adds to a list of notable accomplishments and honors, including the rank of Grand Officer of the National Order of Mali. Levine received the award, which is usually reserved for heads of state, on behalf of Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré for his efforts in developing and distributing vaccines to Malian children.

In addition to his teaching and research work at the University of Maryland, Levine is the chief editor of New Generation Vaccines, recognized widely as one of the most authoritative sources in the vaccines field.