Dr. Jennifer Levine is one of two 2010 Hyundai Scholars from Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian. She is the medical director at the Center for Survivor Wellness, Division of Pediatric Oncology, Columbia University and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Levine is also an attending physician at both Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian and Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut.

Dr. Levine’s research focuses on the survivors of childhood cancer, investigating the long-term complications of oncology treatment, conducting outcomes research and developing new programs and methods to provide supportive care to pediatric cancer survivors throughout their childhood and adolescence and into adulthood.

The Center for Survivor Wellness has a strong commitment to performing research to advance our understanding of survivorship and the late effects of being cured of childhood cancer. The Center participates in projects that are intramural, extramural, and those that accrue data as part of national cooperative group studies. Here are just some of the projects that Dr. Levine and her associates are involved in through their work with the Center:

• Enrolling patients in a study to evaluate early markers of premature ovarian failure in female survivors of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma;

• Late Effects of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: a national study under the auspices of the Children’s Oncology Group;

• Initiating focus groups to evaluate needs of survivors and their parents as they transition off chemotherapy. More focus groups will provide information for the development of an innovative transition intervention study;

• Initiating a Narrative Medicine Program for adolescents with cancer to address the impact of cancer on their emotional health and academic achievement;

• Developing a national study with the Children’s Oncology Group to evaluate the impact of chemotherapy on ovarian reserve, before, during and after treatment. To support this study an R01 grant has been submitted to the NIH.

• Initiated a study evaluating early markers of premature ovarian failure versus ovarian reserve in female survivors of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma;

• Survey of the use of complementary and alternative medicine in survivors of pediatric cancer;

• Study to be conducted this summer of the educational experiences of patients undergoing treatment for ALL with focus on racial disparities.

• Evaluation of Vitamin D deficiency in survivors and impact of supplementation