Chris Levi

Biography

"Stroke is the leading cause of long term adult disability and is the second leading cause of death, nationally and globally. Professor Chris Levi’s contribution and overarching research vision is the translation of experimental stroke therapies into the clinical domain for the effective prevention and treatment of stroke. To this end, he has pioneered significant improvements in prevention, clinical treatment and patient outcomes. When Professor Levi took up his appointment at John Hunter Hospital in 1998, there was no stroke research in the Hunter region. His leadership and ability to attract substantial competitive funding has seen the establishment of the Stroke Research Program. The success of this program led to its incorporation into the University of Newcastle Priority Research Centre (PRC) for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health Research in 2007. In 2009, he was appointed Director of the PRC, continuing in this role until 2014, when he was appointed Director, Clinical Research and Translation, Hunter New England Local Health District. The John Hunter Hospital Acute Stroke Service and Stroke Research Program are considered today to be the leading clinical stroke centre and benchmark for clinical stroke research in Australia, a world-class facility where clinical medicine and the research environment meet. A key advantage of being a clinician-researcher is the potential to closely align day-to-day clinical work, where important and highly relevant research questions arise, with a research program linking to clinical activities and hospital infrastructure. The originality of Professor Levi’s contribution has been his focus on translating research ideas into the discovery of new knowledge for implementation in clinical settings, and mobilising collaborative efforts across facilities and disciplines to improve patient outcomes. To do this he has harnessed skills and resources to build research teams, research capacity, infrastructure and professional networks to achieve his vision, leading to better patient outcomes following stroke. "

Research Interest

Neurosciences , Public Health and Health Services