The Robert I. Levy Page

"Dr. Robert Levy, eighth director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and noted lipid researcher, died of pancreatic cancer on Oct. 28 [2000]. He was 63.... In addition to his work on the classification of lipid disorders, Levy was responsible for the development and national distribution of a dietary treatment program for the management of hyperlipidemia, which was based on work conducted in the Clinical Center. In 1970, he became chief of the Lipid Metabolism Branch in the intramural program and conducted early research on the effect of cholesterol-lowering drugs on the risk of cardiovascular disease. In 1973, Levy was named director of NHLBI's extramural Division of Heart and Vascular Diseases where he coordinated a network of Lipid Research Clinics (LRC) to carry out research on blood-lipid abnormalities.... Levy was project officer of the LRC-Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (CPPT). which was the first study to demonstrate conclusively that the risk of coronary heart disease can be reduced by lowering blood cholesterol [sic]. The CPPT study laid the groundwork for further research on cholesterol-lowering agents, including studies of statins, considered a major class of drugs for the treatment of high cholesterol. In 1975, Levy assumed the position of NHLBI director... During his time as director he helped to implement the National High Blood Pressure Education Program (NHBPEP), which had been created in 1972... Levy left NHLBI in 1981 to become vice president and dean of Tufts University medical school. In 1983, he became vice president for health sciences and professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1988, he served as president of the Sandoz Research Institute until 1992, when he joined American Home Products Corp. as president of Wyeth-Ayers Research. Since 1998, he had been senior vice president of science and technology at American Home Products." (Former NHLBI Director Levy Dies. NIH Record, Dec. 12, 2000.)

Levy was a member of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Panel on Hyperlipidemia and Premature Atherosclerosis, which included fellow former AHF Trustee and Mary Lasker correspondent Theodore Cooper. (Report of the NHLI Panel, June 12-13, 1970.)

Levy participated in the National Heart and Lung Institute Working Conference on Health Behavior in 1974.

Levi accompanied HEW Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Surgeon General Julius Richmond, and (future AHF Trustee) NCI Director Arthur Upton at the Feb. 15, 1978 hearing before the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, on "Antismoking Initiatives of the Department of Health Education and Welfare," chaired by (future AHF Trustee) Rep. Paul G. Rogers, D-FL.

Levy was on the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee of the V International Symposium on Atherosclerosis, Nov. 6-9, 1979, in Houston, Texas. Under the auspices of the International Atherosclerosis Society, with Mary Lasker and Princess Lilian as Honorary Sponsors. The role of infection was of no interest to this bunch. It was funded by numerous pharmaceutical companies.

Levy participated in the 1981 National Conference on Smoking or Health, Work Group 7, "Tobacco Related Research: New Opportunities, New Administrative Mechanisms." Former Surgeon General Jesse L. Steinfeld was the Group Leader.

Levy falsely proclaimed that the decline in mortality from cardiovascular disease since the 1960s was due to "risk factor awareness and modification (cigarette smoking, hypertension control, diet change and reduction in cholesterol)," when the decline actually occurred despite the lack of such changes. (Declining mortality in coronary heart disease. RI Levy. Arteriosclerosis 1981 Sep-Oct;1(5):312-315.)

The Rise and Fall of Ischemic Heart Disease, by Reuel A. Stallones. Scientific American, Nov. 1980. Stallones notes that supposed "explanations" such as diet, exercise, and smoking do not account for the changes in the death rates. It includes graphs of death rates by age beginning in the 1800s, and showing the increase that began around 1920.

American Health Foundation

Levy was a Trustee of Ernst Wynder's American Health Foundation between July 1984 and March 1986. Levy was Vice President for Health Sciences and Professor of Medicine at Columbia University.

1988 Surgeon General Report

Levy was a senior editorial advisor to the Nutrition Policy Board of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which concocted the Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health. Architect of health fascism J. Michael McGinnis was chairman of that board. (Summary and Recommendations. The Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health, US DHHS, 1988.)

American Home Products

Directors of American Home Products in 1994 included Frank A. Bennack Jr., President and CEO of the Hearst Corporation (since 1988); Robin Chandler Duke, a correspondent of Mary Lasker from 1986 to 1993 (since 1975); Robert W. Sarnoff (1969); and William Wrigley Jr. (1981). In 1999, Levy held a considerable number of shares of AHP.

Clifford L. Alexander Jr., a director of AHP since 1993, was on the Heineman Commission in 1968, along with Anna Rosenberg Hoffman; former American Health Foundation Trustee Maxwell M. Rabb; and Henry S. Rowen, president of the Rand Corp.

Genetics Institute Inc.

Levi became a director of Genetics Institute Inc. in 1994, when it was acquired by AHP. Mary Lasker's crony Benno C. Schmidt and Anthony B. Evnin of Venrock were on its board since its founding in 1980, James G. Andress joined in 1991, and Fred Hassan in 1992.

cast 10-10-07