Robert Ira Lewy

Robert Ira Lewy, M.D., F.A.C.P. (born October 16, 1943) is an American doctor and contributor of a generous donation to Stuyvesant High School who has conducted research on aspirin therapy in heart disease and allergic phenomena in recipients of silicone breast implants.

Career

Lewy graduated magna cum laude in 1964 from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, majoring in Biology. He was awarded the Roberts Prize in Biology, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He then matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After one year, he took a leave of absence and was selected as a PhD candidate at the Princeton University Department of Graduate Studies doctoral program in Religion. There he was selected as a Woodrow Wilson scholar, and a William J. Fulbright Scholarship runner-up.

Returning to medical school, he graduated in 1971 from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a Doctor of Medicine degree. His Internship was served at the Philadelphia General Hospital, now defunct, in Philadelphia, and his Residency at the Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Philadelphia. He was then selected for a National Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood grant, [National Heart Lung Blood and Ischemia Investigator #5 T32 AM07084-04] and began a two-year Clinical and Research Fellowship in Hematology at the Cardeza Foundation for Hematological Research of the Thomas Jefferson University of Philadelphia. His original research on the effect of aspirin on heart disease led to a period of prolific publishing in the scientific literature. [Lewy, R.I., Kansu, E.: Prognostic Value of Platelet Counts in Idiopathic Sideroblastic Anemia; Blood; Sl:766-767; 1978.] [Lewy, R.I., Smith, J.B., Silver, M.J., Wiener, L.J., Walinsky, P., & Saia, J.: Detection of Thromboxane B-2 in Peripheral Blood of Patients With Prinzmetal's Angina; Prostaglandins and Medicine; Vol. 2: 243-248; 1979.] [Lewy, R.I., Smith, J.B., Silver, M.J., Saia, J., Walinsky, P., Wiener, L.: Detection of Thromboxane B2 in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Prinzmetal’s Angina. Clinical Research 27:462A, 1979.] [Lewy, R.I., Wiener, L., Smith, J.B., Walinsky, P., Silver, M.J.: Intravenous Heparin Initiates In Vivo Synthesis Release of Thromboxane A-2 in Angina Pectoris; Lancet 2: 97; 1979] [Wiener, L., Lewy, R.I., Walinsky, P., Lefer, A.M., Silver, M.J., Smith, J.B.: Thromboxane Releaseand Coronary Artery Disease Patients During Acute Myocardial Ischemia; Proceedings of the Florence International Conference on Myocardial Infarction; Vol. 1: 388-394; Excerpta Medica; Amsterdam; 1979 (Mason, D.T., Serneri, G.G., Oliver, M.F., Editors).] [Lewy, R.I., Wiener, L., Smith, J.B., Walinsky, P., Silver, M.J., Saia, J.: Comparison of Plasma Concentrations of Thromboxane B-2 and Prinzmetal's Variant Angina and Classical Angina Pectoris; Clinical Cardiology; Vol. 2: 404-406; 1979.] [Lewy, R.I., Wiener, L., Smith, J.B., Walinsky, P., Silver, M.J.: Measurements of Plasma Thromboxane in Peripheral Blood of Prinzmetal's Angina Patients; Circulation (Supp.) II: 248; 1979.(Presented November 15, 1979 at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, Anaheim, California).] [Lewy, R.I., Kansu, E., Gabuzda, T.: Leukemia in Patients with Acquired Idiopathic Sideroblastic Anemia; An Evaluation of Prognostic Indicators; American Journal of Hematology; 6: 323-331; 1979.] [Lewy, R.I., Bills, T.K., Dalton, J., Smith, J.B., Silver, M.J.: 19Hydroxyprostaglandin E and Infertility in Human Males; Prostaglandins and Medicine; 2: 367-372; 1979.] [Lewy, R.I.: Thromboxane A-2 Release and the Injury-Spasm Hypothesis; Circulation; 62: 668; 1979(Letter).] [ Lewy, R.I., Effect of Elevated Free Fatty Acids on Thromboxane Release in Patients withCoronary Artery Disease.Hemostasis; 9:134-140; 1980.] [Lewy, R.I., Wiener, L., Lefer, A.M., Silver, M.J., Smith, J.B., Thromboxane Release During Pacing-Induced Angina Pectoris; Possible Vaso-Constrictor Influence on the Coronary Vasculature; Circulation; Vol. 61: 1165-1171; 1980.] [Michael L.H., Lewy R. I. et al. Thromboxane B2 in Dog Cardiac Lymph.Clinical Research 1980] [Lewy, R.I., Thromboxane Release During Pacing-Induced Angina, (Author's Reply); Circulation;63: 237; 1981.] [Lewy, R.I., Michael, L.H.: Transmyocardial Platelet Behavior in CAD (Author's Reply); Circulation; 63: 969; 1981.] [Lewy, R.I. Thromboxane in Ischemic Heart Disease; New England Journal of Medicine (Letter);305: 106; 1981.] [Lewy R.I. Role des thromboxanes dans l’angor spastique et dans l’angor occlusif. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Ischemia and Platelets. Editions de la Revue de Medecine. pp 57-60, 1982.] [Lewy, R.I. Role of Thromboxanes in vasotonic versus vaso-occlusive angina. Archives des maladies du Coeur et des Vaisseaux. 76:13-16, 1983.] He also held many hospital committee chairmanships, including Chairman, Infectious Disease ad Pharmacy Review Committee of The Woman's Hospital of Texas, Chairman, Credentials Committee, Women’s Hospital of Texas and Chairman, Tissue and Therapeutics Committee, The Woman's Hospital of Texas. He holds two board certifications (board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine as an internist and sub-specialist as a hematologist); he is a member of the American Board of Forensic Examiners (now known as the American College of Forensic Examiners, not a recognized board, but a membership organization), and a member, American College of Rheumatology. He was accepted as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1983.

Lewy practiced clinical hematology and oncology in Houston, Texas from 1979 until 2005, except for a brief period working for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Tulsa. [Davis, K. L., in The [Oklahoma City] Journal Record, August 4, 1999] During this time he was Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He served as a teaching physician at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital of Houston, where he was responsible for training interns, residents and fellows, and served the same function at the Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston on the Baylor College of Medicine Hematology service. His research on allergic aspects of silicone breast implants led to further scientific publications and book chapters during the mid 1990s as well as international scientific and governmental presentations, [Lewy, R.I. Laboratory Findings Reveal Potential Harm of Breast Implants. Texas Medicine. 89 (12), 1993] and peer recognition. [Preface, page x, Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology 210: Immunology of Silicones, M. Potter and N.R. Rose, eds, pages 337-352, Springer Verlag 1996. ISBN 3-540-60272-0] [Lewy, R.I Autoimmune Markers and Imaging Abnormalities in Silicone Breast Implant Users. Clinical Research, 42(2), 275A, 1994] [Autoimmune Disease and Collagen Dermal Implants. Annals of Internal Medicine, 120(6), 524-525, 1994] [Lewy RI. Antinuclear Antibodies, Lipid Disturbances and Central Nervous System Imaging Abnormalities in Silicone Breast Implant Users. Journal of Investigative Medicine 43:333A, 1995]

Silicone breast implants became a subject of much controversy in 1995, and Lewy was subpoenaed both as an expert witness in litigation, interviewed in the popular press and served as a court recognized expert in the Breast Implant Class Action settlement in what the New York Times referred to as a "medical rush to cash in." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6DC1139F930A25755C0A963958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=4 The New York Times, June 13, 1995 - A Case of Justice, or a Total Travesty?; How the Battle Over Breast Implants Took Dow Corning to Chapter 11] ] These implants were removed from the market by the United States Food and Drug Administration due to safety issues. Lewy's disagreement with the New York Times' characterization of the issue as a "rush to cash in" was published. [The New York Times, September 25, 1995 – Letter to the editor from Lewy commenting on September 18, 1995 article] ] In 1993, he lost his admitting privileges to The Methodist Hospital, while retaining full privileges at his other teaching hospitals including St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, as well as faculty appointments. The Methodist Hospital was the defendant in many breast implant cases, and the place where they were invented by Dr Frank Gerow, according to the article "Silicone City" in Texas Monthly magazine [Swartz M., Silicone City, Texas Monthly, August 1995.]

In 1997, Dr. Lewy was reprimanded and required to pay an administrative penalty of $2,000 by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. [ [http://www.bioethicswatch.org/pd/lewy_txorder19970809.pdf Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, August 9, 1997 - In the matter of the medical license of Robert Ira Lewy, M.D.] ] The board's order noted that in 1993, Lewy "was excluded from the medical staff of The Methodist Hospital for inadequate medical record keeping." The Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision officially reprimanded Dr. Lewy in 2002 for "fraud obtaining license credentials". [ [http://www.okmedicalboard.org/display.php?content=med_directory:med_directory&ref=names&TYPE=NAME&PROFESSION=MD&LICENSE=21318 Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision - Lewy, Robert Ira] ] In the same year, Lewy agreed to a "censure and reprimand" and a $5,000 fine from the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct, stemming from the Texas and Oklahoma cases, although he had never practiced in New York. [New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct, [http://w3.health.state.ny.us/opmc/factions.nsf/0/33eed3c3d7a7327c85256c3300572bc5/$FILE/lc124135.pdf Order BPMC 03-11] .] . State medical boards are permitted to consider issues occurring in another state as a cause to fine licensees in their own states. His license remains in good standing in Texas, California, Pennsylvania and New York, although currently they are inactive due to his retirement in 2005.

In 2006 he donated over $1 million dollars to Stuyvesant High School, his high school alma mater for the establishment of the Dr. Robert Ira Lewy Multimedia Center, to serve as the high school’s central academic research facility. [The Spectator, Volume XCVII, No 6, page 2, "Dedication Ceremony for the Lewy Multimedia Center Held".]

References