Jacob Oren Levitt, M.D. is Clinical Professor in the Department of Dermatology at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY. Until August 2021, he was Vice Chair of the department and heavily involved in teaching residents and medical students. He was Course Director of the second year medical student dermatology pathophysiology course at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY for ten years from his Chief Residency year at Mount Sinai in 2004 until 2014. From 2010 – 2020, he was Residency Director of Dermatology. Clinical interests include autoimmune bullous disease, hidradenitis suppurativa, pyoderma gangrenosum, and medical education. Dr. Levitt did his dermatology residency at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, his internship at Sound Shore Medical Center, New Rochelle, NY, and medical school training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY. He received a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Yale University. Dr. Levitt has competency in conversational Hebrew and Spanish, and some French and Japanese. He speaks English ok.
Non-work activities include thirty-three years of Shotokan Karate (4th degree black belt and instructor), wing chun, jiujitsu, and kali. He is past-President and Medical Director of the Periodic Paralysis Association (he also has this disease), and was former Director of the Bronx Yale Alumni Schools Committee. He served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology from 2008-2013. In medical school (circa 1999-2000), Dr. Levitt was a co-founder of the ECHO Free Clinic in the Bronx, NY, designed to render medical care to uninsured patients. The first of its kind in the nation, this clinic model has been emulated by medical schools across the country. He recently became a wildlife rehabilitator and has developed an interest in gardening, focusing on native flowers, shrubs, and trees to encourage pollinator pathways and a balanced suburban ecosystem.
Dr. Jacob Levitt has over 60 publications, including 7 book chapters, one book (Safety in Office-Based Dermatologic Surgery), and one educational App (Dermswipe, free on the App store, available internationally, developed with Dr. Usama Syed, also with TDS). He has been a speaker at the American Academy of Dermatology on head lice and scabies, procedural safety in dermatology, and U.S. generic drug pricing. He was meeting Chair of the July 2017 AAD Summer Meeting and the 2020 Winter Meeting. From 2004-2010, Dr. Levitt was a vice president of Taro Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc., a company founded by his grandfather. Dr. Levitt holds one patent on a novel treatment for acne and another for the use of cantharidin in perforating collagenosis. He is past President of the Manhattan Metropolitan Dermatological Society (2011-2012) and past President of the New York Academy of Medicine Dermatology Section (2012-2013) and past President of the New York State Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery (2017-2019). He is formerly a member to the American Academy of Dermatology Scientific Assembly Committee (March 2015 – March 2020) and American Academy of Dermatology Council for Education.
