St. Vincent Charity Medical Center recently announced that Dr. Dale Levy has joined the organization as cardiothoracic surgeon, expanding the St. Vincent Medical Group to include an open heart and thoracic surgery program.

“St. Vincent Charity has a rich history of cardiac care dating back to 1950 and we remain dedicated to providing high quality cardiovascular care today,” said Dr. David Perse, president and CEO. “I’m extremely pleased to welcome someone of Dr. Levy’s caliber to our organization and I’m confident his expertise in minimally invasive heart surgery and pulmonary screening will complement our highly skilled cardiovascular team.”

In 1950, Dr. Henry Zimmerman launched the cardiology division at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. Under Dr. Zimmerman, St. Vincent Charity was at the forefront of innovations in cardiac care. In 1956, Dr. Earl Kaye performed the first open-heart surgery in the Midwest, only the third in the country, at St. Vincent Charity. Shortly after, the hospital opened one of the first diagnostic and evaluation laboratories in the Midwest.

Dr. Levy specializes in open heart surgery with a special interest in bypass and valve surgery, as well as minimally invasive surgical procedures. He also has extensive experience in management of pulmonary nodules and lung cancer screening.

“Throughout the majority of my career I have had the privilege of working at faith-based healthcare organizations and I’m looking forward to continuing on this path at St. Vincent Charity,” Levy said. “I’m especially excited about the opportunity to bring a new specialized service to St. Vincent Charity with the pulmonary nodule clinic and lung cancer screening.”

A lung nodule is a spot on the lung that is seen on an X-ray or computed tomography (CT) scan. According to WebMD.com, a lung nodule shows up on about one in every 500 chest X-rays. The discovery of a nodule on the lung doesn’t necessarily mean cancer and often lung nodules are benign. When a spot on the lung is identified, patients are typically monitored with follow-up surveillance CT scans over the course of two years.

“The availability of pulmonary nodule clinic at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center gives family medicine physicians, primary care physicians and patients another high-quality lung cancer screening option in the Cleveland-area,” Levy said.

Dr. Levy joins St. Vincent Charity Medical Center from OhioHealth Doctor’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio where he served as chief of the division of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery since 2006. In addition to this role, Dr. Levy also held positions at Blanchard Valley Hospital and Mt. Carmel Hospital. Prior to his time in Columbus, Dr. Levy spent three years as chief of cardiac surgery at St. John Medical Center. 

Dr. Levy completed residencies in both general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York, New York.

In a recent profile by Cleveland Jewish News, Dr. Levy discussed his return to Cleveland and the unexpected path that led him to a career cardiothoracic surgery: 

When Dale Levy was growing up in Pepper Pike, he always thought he would become an obstetrician like his father. But while attending Orange High School in Pepper Pike, he volunteered at Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights and saw there was a whole world of surgery beyond being an OB-GYN.

After going to school at Case Western Reserve University's medical school and accepting a position as a research assistant for an artificial organs' department and seeing his first operation there, he knew it was something he had to do.

"Cleveland is a great place to live and be," he said. "I hope to expand the open-heart surgery services here and to develop a very strong general thoracic surgery as well. There are several exciting areas of thoracic surgery as well that can be developed fully, and this is a great area to do that."