Beth Levine (physician)

Beth Cindy Levine (April 7, 1960 – June 15, 2020) was an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Professor of Internal Medicine and Microbiology, Director of the Center for Autophagy Research and Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.[1] She specialized in the field of autophagy; more specifically in its regulation and its role in diverse diseases, including cancer and infectious diseases.[2] Levine majored in French studies at Brown University and completed her M.D. at Cornell University, specializing in internal medicine. She then moved on to study "infectious diseases and the pathogenesis of neurotropic viruses"[2] at Johns Hopkins University. She served as Director of Virology Research at Columbia University from 1994 to 2004, and Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from 2004-2011.

Her major contributions include the discovery of the mammalian autophagy gene, beclin 1 and its role in tumor suppression, longevity, and antimicrobial host defense.

In 2013, Levine was elected into the National Academy of Sciences.

In 2014, Levine received the ASCI/Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award for her work on autophagy. She died on June 15, 2020 at the age of 60 from cancer.[3][4]