Benjamin Levi, M.D.
Associate Profess & Division Chief
Endowed Title Dr. Lee Hudson-Robert R. Penn Chair in Surgery
Department Surgery | Charles and Jane Pak Center for Mineral Metabolism and Clinical Research | Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern | Plastic Surgery
Graduate Programs Biomedical Engineering, Genetics, Development and Disease
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Biography
Benjamin Levi, M.D., holds the Dr. Lee Hudson-Robert R. Penn Chair in Surgery and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and serves as Chief of the Division of General and Acute Care Surgery. He specializes in acute and reconstructive burn surgery and scar reconstructive surgery.
Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery, Dr. Levi joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020. Previously, he was Director of the Burn/Wound and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory and Associate Director of Burn Surgery Service at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Levi’s research interests, which are funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American College of Surgeons, and the Department of Defense, include stem cell biology, heterotopic ossification, muscle fibrosis, tissue regeneration, wound healing and repair, and burn reconstruction outcomes.
He is the author of more than 100 scholarly articles, including high-impact papers in Science Translational Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nature Communications, as well as chapters in a number of textbooks, including Greenfield’s Surgery, Total Burn Care, Grabb and Smith’s Plastic Surgery, and Trauma. He has delivered presentations worldwide, held numerous invited professorships, and serves as a permanent editor and ad hoc editor for journals in his area of research.
Education
- Other Post Graduate Training
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Medical School
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (2005)
- Internship
- University of Michigan Health System (2006), General Surgery
- Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Stanford University (2011), Pediatrics & Medical Genetics
- Residency
- University of Michigan Health System (2013), Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
- Fellowship
- Massachusetts General Hospital (2014), Surgical Critical Care
Research Interest
- fibrosis
- matrix biology
- stem cell fate
Publications
Featured Publications
- Regulation of heterotopic ossification by monocytes in a mouse model of aberrant wound healing.
- Sorkin M, Huber AK, Hwang C, Carson WF, Menon R, Li J, Vasquez K, Pagani C, Patel N, Li S, Visser ND, Niknafs Y, Loder S, Scola M, Nycz D, Gallagher K, McCauley LK, Xu J, James AW, Agarwal S, Kunkel S, Mishina Y, Levi B, Nat Commun 2020 02 11 1 722
- Coordinating Tissue Regeneration Through Transforming Growth Factor-ß Activated Kinase 1 Inactivation and Reactivation.
- Hsieh HHS, Agarwal S, Cholok DJ, Loder SJ, Kaneko K, Huber A, Chung MT, Ranganathan K, Habbouche J, Li J, Butts J, Reimer J, Kaura A, Drake J, Breuler C, Priest CR, Nguyen J, Brownley C, Peterson J, Ozgurel SU, Niknafs YS, Li S, Inagaki M, Scott G, Krebsbach PH, Longaker MT, Westover K, Gray N, Ninomiya-Tsuji J, Mishina Y, Levi B, Stem Cells 2019 06 37 6 766-778
- Mesenchymal VEGFA induces aberrant differentiation in heterotopic ossification.
- Hwang C, Marini S, Huber AK, Stepien DM, Sorkin M, Loder S, Pagani CA, Li J, Visser ND, Vasquez K, Garada MA, Li S, Xu J, Hsu CY, Yu PB, James AW, Mishina Y, Agarwal S, Li J, Levi B, Bone Res 2019 7 36
- Characterizing the Circulating Cell Populations in Traumatic Heterotopic Ossification.
- Loder SJ, Agarwal S, Chung MT, Cholok D, Hwang C, Visser N, Vasquez K, Sorkin M, Habbouche J, Sung HH, Peterson J, Fireman D, Ranganathan K, Breuler C, Priest C, Li J, Bai X, Li S, Cederna PS, Levi B, Am. J. Pathol. 2018 11 188 11 2464-2473
- Harnessing macrophage-mediated degradation of gelatin microspheres for spatiotemporal control of BMP2 release.
- Annamalai RT, Turner PA, Carson WF, Levi B, Kunkel S, Stegemann JP, Biomaterials 2018 04 161 216-227
- Strategic Targeting of Multiple BMP Receptors Prevents Trauma-Induced Heterotopic Ossification.
- Agarwal S, Loder SJ, Breuler C, Li J, Cholok D, Brownley C, Peterson J, Hsieh HH, Drake J, Ranganathan K, Niknafs YS, Xiao W, Li S, Kumar R, Tompkins R, Longaker MT, Davis TA, Yu PB, Mishina Y, Levi B, Mol. Ther. 2017 08 25 8 1974-1987
- Scleraxis-Lineage Cells Contribute to Ectopic Bone Formation in Muscle and Tendon.
- Agarwal S, Loder SJ, Cholok D, Peterson J, Li J, Breuler C, Cameron Brownley R, Hsin Sung H, Chung MT, Kamiya N, Li S, Zhao B, Kaartinen V, Davis TA, Qureshi AT, Schipani E, Mishina Y, Levi B, Stem Cells 2017 03 35 3 705-710
- Surgical Excision of Heterotopic Ossification Leads to Re-Emergence of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Populations Responsible for Recurrence.
- Agarwal S, Loder S, Cholok D, Li J, Breuler C, Drake J, Brownley C, Peterson J, Li S, Levi B, Stem Cells Transl Med 2017 03 6 3 799-806
- Evaluation of Salivary Cytokines for Diagnosis of both Trauma-Induced and Genetic Heterotopic Ossification.
- Sung Hsieh HH, Chung MT, Allen RM, Ranganathan K, Habbouche J, Cholok D, Butts J, Kaura A, Tiruvannamalai-Annamalai R, Breuler C, Priest C, Loder SJ, Li J, Li S, Stegemann J, Kunkel SL, Levi B, Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2017 8 74
- Lymphatic Contribution to the Cellular Niche in Heterotopic Ossification.
- Loder S, Agarwal S, Sorkin M, Breuler C, Li J, Peterson J, Gardenier J, Hsieh HH, Wang SC, Mehrara BJ, Levi B, Ann. Surg. 2016 Dec 264 6 1174-1180
Professional Associations/Affiliations
- Biomedical Engineering (2021-2023)
- Gene Development and Disease (2021-2023)