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Sophie Levinson, MD
Physician, Adolescent Medicine
March 28, 1938-May 14, 2007
Note: Dr. Levinson passed away on May 14. The following is the obituary about her that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Advocate for kids' health issues
May 17, 2007
BY PATRICK REHKAMP Staff Reporter, Chicago Sun-Times
Dr. Sophie Serebrenik Levinson dedicated much of her life to making children healthier.
She was involved in starting immunization programs for Latino children in Humboldt Park and Uptown.
She was a voice against the use of lead paint because of the dangers it posed to kids.
And she conducted research on hypertension in youngsters.
Dr. Levinson, a former official with the Chicago Board of Health, died Monday at a Skokie hospice center after a long battle with breast cancer and multiple myeloma. She was 69.
"She was an outstanding, inspirational individual," said Dr. Levinson's son, Vic Levinson.
She was born Sophie Serebrenik on March 28, 1938, in Medellin, Colombia, the second oldest of six children.
Native of Columbia
She attended medical school in Columbia at the University of Antioquia. She was the second woman to graduate there and finished first in her class, her family said.
Dr. Levinson moved to Chicago to study pathology at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in 1962. It was there she met her future husband, to whom she would be married for 44 years.
Dr. Levinson developed an interest in public health and switched from pathology to pediatrics. In the 1970s, she began working for the Chicago Board of Health, where she focused on health care for the underprivileged, trying to rid homes of lead paint and expanding access to inoculations in the inner city.
Because she was bilingual, she worked as a regional director for the Board of Health, overseeing clinics in Latino neighborhoods as well as seeing patients, her family said.
Later she took a position with Northwestern University Health Services until she established a private practice, Vic Levinson said.
Aside from health care, Dr. Levinson was an avid sculptor and painter, and she enjoyed traveling.
She was generous even in the midst of her illnesses, said her daughter, Linda Harvey, noting that her mother, while in the hospital, allowed medical school residents to learn about her condition.
Aside from her children, Dr. Levinson is survived by her husband, Dr. Monte Levinson, and seven grandchildren.
© What I Wish You Knew, LLC, 2006. All rights reserved. 