VCU Health System names Distinguished Clinician

By Sathya Achia Abraham

The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System has named James Levenson, M.D., a professor of psychiatry, surgery and medicine who also serves as chairman of the division of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, as its 2005 Distinguished Clinician.

The award recognized Levenson, who also is vice-chairman for clinical affairs within the VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, for his contribution to medicine, specifically for his work in the newly recognized subspecialty of psychiatry known as psychosomatic medicine. Psychosomatic medicine is a specialized area devoted to the treatment of psychiatric disorders in complex medically ill patients.0.

Each year, the VCU School of Medicine clinical faculty nominates a fellow clinician for the award based on criteria that includes patient care, clinical excellence and compassion.

For more than 15 years, Levenson has chaired the VCU Health System Ethics Committee. He serves on the boards of the Clinical Practice Plan, the Malpractice Plan, and the university’s Medicaid HMO. He is also a consultant for the National Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome Information Service.

Levenson currently serves as chair of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s Committee for Sub-specialization in Psychosomatic Medicine, and as vice-chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Psychosomatic Medicine. He also is a past president of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine.

He has published more than 120 papers and book chapters and edited two books, including the American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine, the first textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine since its official recognition.

Levenson received his medical degree from the University of Michigan and completed his internal medicine internship at the University of Oregon. He attended the University of Colorado for his psychiatric residency and completed his consultation-liaison psychiatry fellowship at Westchester County Medical Center.

Previous award recipients include Harold F.Young, M.D., neurosurgery, 1994; David Draper, M.D., pediatrics, 1995; Arnold M. Salzberg, surgery, 1996; George Vetrovec, M.D., cardiology, 1997; David F. Garner, M.D., endocrinology, 1998; John D. Ward, M.D., neurosurgery, 1999; Thomas J. Smith, M.D., hematology/oncology, 2000; Kenneth A. Ellenbogen, M.D., cardiology, 2001; Robert Leshner, M.D., pediatric neurology, 2002; Michael L. Hess, M.D., cardiology, 2003; and Lisa Brath, M.D., pulmonary and critical care medicine, 2004.