Medical Practice
Dr. Levine is a voluntary attending physician at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he holds an appointment as Associate Clinical Professor of Geriatrics & Palliative Care. Dr. Levine is wound care consultant at the New Jewish Home, a 514 bed facility that has both rehabilitation and long-term care residents, where he is also part of the teaching program for geriatric fellows in the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine.
-
Presenting Wound Care Research at the American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting
May 15, 2022
Despite the well-documented association of chronic wounds with aging, we conclude that the field of geriatrics has provided suboptimal attention to this important topic.
read more -
COVID-Related Skin Injuries
May 3, 2022
Thankfully the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but the public health crisis brought new challenges to the wound care world. There has been profound impact upon the epidemiology of skin lesions such as pressure injuries, and this post will discuss major... read more -
Presenting on Skin Failure at SAWC
Apr 29, 2022
I was honored to present on skin failure at the Spring meeting of the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) in Phoenix. My presentation was intended to deliver basic concepts of skin failure pathophysiology outlined in my paper published in the March 2022 issue of Advances in Skin & Wound Care.
read more -
A Review of the Skin Failure Concept
Nov 19, 2021
This new manuscript reviews barrier functions of skin and defines specific pathophysiologic factors that lead to its disruption including hypoperfusion, hypoxia, increased vascular permeability, and edema – all of which act synergistically. The article further defines acute and chronic conditions leading to these pathophysiologic aberrations including Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS), protein-calorie malnutrition, and immunocompromised states. Also addressed are critical contributing factors such as age-related skin changes, frailty, sarcopenia, cytoskeletal and external forces, pharmacologic contributors, and the dying process.
read more -
Wound Odor: The View from Ancient Greece
May 10, 2021
The fascinating history of wound care dates back to the earliest human cultures, where prehistoric bones and cave paintings left hints of wound-healing knowledge. A major problem associated with wounds is odor, a phenomenon recognized for millennia. In today’s... read more -
Speaking of Aging Skin at NPIAP
Feb 28, 2021
I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the upcoming National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel Annual Conference on the topic of aging skin. The NPIAP’s core mission is to provide interprofessional leadership to improve patient outcomes in pressure injury prevention and management through education, public policy, and research.
read more -
Is There a COVID-Related Wound?
Sep 21, 2020
This blog post explores whether there is a link between COVID and wounds. Understanding of this disease is still in the early stages, and it is unclear whether these skin lesions are the result of comorbidities or coinfection with other agents, or whether COVID-19 is actually responsible. The following skin lesions have been described with COVID-19 infection:
read more -
Suspension Therapy for Pressure Injuries: A Rediscovered Footnote to Nazi Medicine
Sep 14, 2020
Shortly after German surrender in WWII, a medical officer from occupying British forces inspected a military hospital in Germany and described a treatment for pressure injuries developed by Nazi doctors. The treatment, based on suspension of the patient by wires drilled into pelvic bones, has been lost to history until now.
read more -
History of Pressure Injury Treatment at the New York Academy of Medicine
Mar 14, 2020
I was recently honored to present at the New York Academy of Medicine’s 11th Annual History of Medicine Night, along with five other distinguished lecturers. My topic was entitled Bed-Sore Treatment by Suspension: A Case Report from WWII. While perusing old journals... read more -
Skin Failure, Unavoidable Pressure Injuries, and Terminal Ulceration at NPIAP
Mar 1, 2020
I recently presented on the topic of skin failure at the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP) annual meeting in Houston on February 27th and 28th, sharing the podium with Janet Cuddigan PhD, RN, FAAN, President of NPIAP. The goal of our session was to... read more -
Skin Failure at WoundCon 2020
Feb 25, 2020
This past winter I presented on SKIN FAILURE at WoundCon, the first of its kind ONLINE Virtual Wound Care Conference and Expo. Brought to you by the publishers of WoundSource®, this full-day virtual conference on Thursday, April 2, 2020 included a series of CME/CE... read more -
New Review on Aging Skin, with Considerations for Clinicians
Jan 5, 2020
My review article entitled Clinical Aspects of Aging Skin is now online in the January edition of Advances in Skin & Wound Care, and is available on line at this link. This article is filled with practical information for the wound care practitioner, but does... read more -
Pressure Injuries Expanded by CMS as Indicators of Hospital Harm
Sep 28, 2019
CMS has implemented a new quality measure for hospitals that expands the array of pressure injuries considered as adversely impacting quality care. The new measure, developed in a program to provide electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), widens the scope of... read more -
Terminal Ulcer Terminology Reconsidered
Sep 3, 2019
My new article in Wound Management & Prevention is a critical re-examination of terminal ulcer terminology. In it I make the case for recognizing terminal ulcers as part of the spectrum of skin failure (and not necessarily heralding death) and used only in... read more -
Wound Care Research at the American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting
May 9, 2019
I just returned from the American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, where parts of my wound care research were presented as a poster. My co-author was geriatrician-in-training Dr. Rikitha Menezes, who participated in data collection. Rikitha came... read more -
Wound Care Boot Camp at the AMDA/PALTC Annual Meeting
Mar 10, 2019
Many times I’ve been asked to provide a lecture on wound care with an allotted time of 45 minutes to one hour. The reality is that wound care is so complex that one hour will provide only a superficial overview which may not serve many front-line clinicians. This... read more -
Is the Pressure Injury Staging System Obsolete?
Feb 5, 2019
When I began researching my article in the March 2019 issue of Advances in Skin and Wound Care entitled Historical Perspective on Pressure Injury Classification: The Legacy of J. Darrel Shea, I did not intend to critique the staging system. I simply wanted insight... read more -
Serge Voronoff and the History of Wound Care at the New York Academy of Medicine
Jan 10, 2019
Join me at the New York Academy of Medicine for the Tenth Annual History of Medicine and Public Health Night on Wednesday evening, January 30th, when I present my paper entitled Organotherapy, Gilded Manhattan, and Wound Healing Research in the Early 20th Century.... read more -
Wound Care Webinar Sponsored by The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine
Sep 29, 2018
On Wednesday, October 24th I had the honor of delivering a webinar entitled Wound Care: Maximizing Quality While Controlling Costs, sponsored by The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. The webinar will begin at 7:00 EST and last 1.5 hours. I will be... read more -
Wound Care in the Geriatrics Review Syllabus
Sep 24, 2018
The 10th Edition of the Geriatrics Review Syllabus is soon going to press, and I am pleased to announce that I authored the revised Pressure Injury and Wound Care chapter. This chapter covers much of the material I wrote in the 9th Edition, but has critical updates... read more -
Pressure Injuries and the Human Warranty
Sep 16, 2018
In this post I will discuss two recent articles that together make the case that pressure injuries might be a manifestation of a human biological warranty. The first is Unavoidable Pressure Injury: State of the Science and Consensus Outcomes, published in the Journal... read more -
Upcoming Talks at SAWC
Jan 25, 2018
I am thrilled to announce that I will be presenting in two sessions at the upcoming Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) which is going on from April 25 to 29, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. SAWC is a leading educational forum for interdisciplinary wound care... read more -
Webinar on Unavoidable Pressure Injuries, Terminal Ulceration, and Skin Failure
Nov 3, 2017
Please join me Thursday, November 16 from 3:00-4:00pm EDT for a free webinar presented by myself and Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, sponsored by the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP), entitled Unavoidable Pressure Injuries, Terminal Ulceration, and Skin... read more -
NPUAP Biennial to Host Panel on End-of-Life Ulcers & Skin Failure
Feb 3, 2017
I am pleased to announce that the 2017 National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) Biennial Conference entitled Pressure Injury: Advancing the Vision is hosting a panel of experts to discuss the terminology and evidence related to the important issue of end-of-life... read more -
Skin Failure: An Emerging Concept
Sep 25, 2016
This post is based on my article that recently appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Skin failure is an emerging concept that ties together current trends in clinical practice and deserves wider acceptance. Wound care providers have... read more -
New Pressure Ulcer Chapter in the Geriatrics Review Syllabus
May 20, 2016
The Geriatrics Review Syllabus, 9th Edition, also known as GRS9, has been released and I am thrilled to be author of the newly revised and expanded chapter on Pressure Ulcers. The GRS9 is a comprehensive reference on geriatric medicine, a study guide for those... read more -
Pressure Ulcers are an Under-Appreciated Public Health Issue
Apr 9, 2016
As a geriatric fellow back in the 1980’s I became intrigued by the wide prevalence of pressure ulcers and how little literature there was on this disease. Three decades later, they have not gone away and it amazes me that they are not on the list of recognized... read more -
New Evidence for Pressure Ulcer Unavoidability
Feb 27, 2016
Over 150 years ago Jean Martin Charcot recognized that pressure ulceration can be an unavoidable component the dying process, kicking off a controversy over preventability that continues today. Contemporary medical science presents a growing body of knowledge... read more -
Infections Related to Pressure Ulcers are Always Serious
Feb 22, 2016
Infections related to pressure ulcers are always serious events because most patients with these wounds are already compromised, and open wounds provide a portal for pathogenic bacteria to enter the body. Reasons for compromise include immobility, neurologic... read more -
Body Casts in WWII: A Historical Perspective on Medical Device Related Pressure Ulcers
Jan 9, 2016
Surgeons and medics apply a plaster-of-paris body cast on an injured soldier. Photo courtesy of the New York Public Library. During WWII, the incidence of pressure ulcers in young injured soldiers increased as a result of plaster body casts and immobilization... read more