BENJAMIN D. LEVINE M.D. is the founder
and Director of the Institute for
Exercise and Environmental Medicine
(IEEM) at Texas Health Presbyterian
Hospital Dallas where he also holds
the S. Finley Ewing Chair for Wellness
and the Harry S. Moss Heart Chair for
Cardiovascular Research. He is
Professor of Internal
Medicine/Cardiology and Distinguished
Professor of Exercise Sciences at the
University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center. Dr. Levine
earned his B.A. magna cum laude in
human biology from Brown University
and his M.D. from Harvard Medical
School. He completed his
internship and residency in internal
medicine at Stanford University
Medical Center followed by a
cardiology fellowship at UT
Southwestern where he trained under
the renowned cardiovascular
physiologists Gunnar Blomqivst, M.D.
and Jere Mitchell, M.D. Dr.
Levine founded the IEEM in 1992 which
has become one of the premier
laboratories in the world for the
study of human clinical and
integrative physiology. His
global research interests center on
the adaptive capacity of the
circulation in response to exercise
training, deconditioning, aging, and
environmental stimuli such as
spaceflight and high altitude. A
Henry Luce Foundation and Fulbright
Scholar, he received the Peter van
Handel Award from the US Olympic
Committee (for outstanding research),
the Research Award from the Wilderness
Medical Society, the Honor Award from
the Texas Chapter of ACSM, the
Citation Award from the National ACSM
for his body of work, and the
Distinguished Scientist Award by the
ACC. A consummate clinician and
teacher as well as a scholar, he was
elected to the Association of
University Cardiologists, received the
Michael J. Joyner International
Teaching Award from the Danish
Cardiovascular Research Academy, and
has been selected as one of the “Best
Doctors” for cardiovascular medicine
in Dallas and America by his
peers. Dr. Levine is a renowned
sports cardiologist who sees athletes
with cardiovascular medical problems
from around the world and serves as a
consultant to the NCAA, the NHL, the
NFL, the USOC, USA Track and Field,
and other athletic organizations. He
has been a key contributor to the
guidelines for the management of
athletes with heart disease since
1994. Dr. Levine also has a unique
background in space medicine, serving
as a co-investigator on 4 Spacelab
missions (SLS-1, SLS-2, D-2 and
Neurolab), the MIR space station, and
most recently, awarded the 2021
Scientific Achievement award by the
Aerospace Medicine Association a
section of the Space Medicine
Association. He has a long, sustained
track record of funding by the NIH,
NASA and the National Space Biomedical
Research Institute (NSBRI), for which
he was the Team Leader of the
Cardiovascular Section from 2007 to
2017 advising NASA’s flight surgeons
on cardiovascular medical issues. His
work with astronauts has translated
into one of his other areas of
clinical expertise, namely patients
with syncope (fainting) and
orthostatic intolerance (the inability
to stand up and withstand the effects
of gravity on Earth. Dr. Levine is
currently the director of a Program
Project grant that explores the
“Mechanisms of Exercise Intolerance in
Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection
Fraction: Precision Therapy Based on
Patient Specific Pathophysiology”. Dr.
Levine has published 497 peer-reviewed
journal articles, reviews, book
chapters, and technical papers, and is
currently serving on the editorial
boards of numerous journals, Dr Levine
is a fellow of the American Heart
Association for which he is the
immediate past chair of the Exercise
and Cardiac Rehabilitation Committee,
American College of Sports Medicine
(ACSM), the Cardiovascular Section of
the American Physiological Society and
the American College of Cardiology,
former VP and member Board of Trustees
of ACSM, a member of the Board of
Directors of the American Autonomic
Society, elected member of the
Association of University
Cardiologists, and elected member of
the prestigious medical society the
Association of American Physicians.