Matthew Nathan Levy (December 2, 1922 – March 19, 2012) was an Americanphysiologist best known for his research oncardiac physiology and co-writing several textbooks withRobert M. Berne. Levy carried out pioneering research on the relationship between the heart and theautonomic nervous system and was sometimes referred to as "the father ofneurocardiology".[1]
Levy was born in 1922 and raised inWashington Heights, Manhattan. In 1938, his family moved to Miami and thenCleveland, where he began his premedical education atCase Western Reserve University. He was accepted into the university's medical school in 1942 and began working in the laboratory of cardiovascular physiologistCarl J. Wiggers. He graduated in 1945 and served for two years in the Armed Forces at the Veterans' Administration Hospital inChillicothe, Ohio.[1]
In 1948, Levy returned to Case Western Reserve University, where he continued to work in Wiggers' laboratory and lectured in physiology.[1][2] When Wiggers retired in 1953, Levy moved toAlbany, New York, to continue his research under the supervision of Wiggers' son, who was a professor atAlbany Medical College. He joined the college faculty and became an associate professor of medicine before moving back to Cleveland in 1957 to settle inUniversity Heights with his wife and children. There, he joinedSt. Vincent Charity Medical Center as the director of the hospital's research division.[1] He rejoined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University and eventually became a professor of physiology.[2] He served as Chief of Investigational Medicine atMount Sinai Hospital from 1967 until the hospital's closure in 1996.[1]
In the early 1960s, Levy andRobert M. Berne—another physiology researcher whom Levy had met in Wiggers' laboratory—rewrote the physiology curriculum for theCase Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The new syllabus provided the foundation forCardiovascular Physiology, a textbook co-authored by Berne and Levy and dedicated to Wiggers; its first edition was published in 1967 and its ninth and final edition in 2001. Berne and Levy would go on to collaborate on two more widely used textbooks,Physiology andPrinciples of Physiology, the later of which is still in publication.[1]
Levy has been referred to as "the father ofneurocardiology" for his pioneering research on the relationship between the heart and theautonomic nervous system. Some of his studies specifically examined how the reflexes of the cardiovascular system influencecardiac output andvascular resistance, how the body maintains flow to different circulations, how thevagus nerve affects various functions of the heart, the causes ofWenckebach heart block, and the effect ofneuropeptide Y on the heart. Over his career, Levy published more than 220 journal articles and was the editor-in-chief of theAmerican Journal of Physiology's subjournalHeart and Circulatory Physiology. He received numerous awards, including a merit award from theNational Institutes of Health and the Carl J. Wiggers Award from theAmerican Physiological Society's cardiovascular branch.[1] He was also inducted into the Cleveland Medical Hall of Fame.[2]
Levy became a professor emeritus in 1993 but continued to work at Mount Sinai Hospital andMetroHealth Medical Center. After retiring he continued to edit new editions of his and Berne's textbooks.[1] He died on March 19, 2012, atHillcrest Hospital in Cleveland.[2]
