Mia Levy, MD, PhD, director of Cancer Health Informatics and Strategy at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research, has been named director of Rush University Cancer Center and Systems Vice President for Cancer Service at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Levy came to VICC in 2009 to lead the cancer informatics program and two years later co-created My Cancer Genome, the nation’s first web-based precision cancer medicine knowledge resource. Last year, she led VICC’s successful transition to eStar, an Epic-based clinical software program.
Levy’s research has aided the implementation of precision medicine to diverse health care delivery systems, including underserved and community practices. She has worked to make electronic health records more structured so they can be more easily shared between institutions and has contributed to cancer data sharing consortia. Most recently, she served on the Cancer Moonshot Enhanced Data Sharing Working Group and the National Cancer Advisory Board Data Science Working Group. She also has been a strategic adviser for data sharing initiatives of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the National Cancer Policy Forum and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
“Mia Levy has been integral to our successes at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center on many fronts, and we are grateful for all that she has advanced,” said Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, Executive Vice President for Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), director of VICC and Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology at Vanderbilt. “She will be highly successful in her new role, and we look forward to many trans-institutional collaborations with her and her colleagues at Rush in the future.”
When she takes the helm at Rush University Cancer Center in January, Levy will be returning to the university where she received her medical degree.
“I am so thankful for all of the opportunities and support I have received at Vanderbilt to collaborate in developing and implementing innovative informatics solutions across the cancer care continuum,” Levy said. “I am very proud of what we have accomplished together at Vanderbilt and look forward to taking this learning to my new position at Rush University Cancer Center.”
A medical oncologist who specializes in breast cancer, Levy also has an undergraduate degree in bioengineering and a PhD in Biomedical Informatics. She is an associate professor of Biomedical Informatics and an associate professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University.
“There are few faculty who have had the impact on VUMC that Mia has over her tenure here — beginning with the creation of My Cancer Genome and her leading work with VOIS (Vanderbilt Oncology Information System), and, of course, with Beacon/Epic,” said Kevin Johnson, MD, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics; professor of Pediatrics and Senior Vice President of Health Information Technology. “Her leadership in cancer informatics also created an environment that attracted trainees to her, leaving, among her contributions to VUMC, a team of people to carry on her work.”
In 2016, the Susan G. Komen Foundation named Levy a Komen Scholar. The same year, she was inducted into the American College of Medical Informatics. In 2017, she received the Sidney P. Colowick Award for Research that Serves as a Platform for Discovery in Diverse Areas from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
