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An Independent Nonprofit Research Institute
 
 

The Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine

 
 
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We believe that good emergency care extends beyond the walls of the emergency department. The Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine leads the transformation of emergency care to elevate the importance of home, community and society.

 
 
 

Goals

The Andrew Levitt Center aims to expand our understanding of the interplay of social forces and health as manifest at medicine’s doorstep, the modern emergency department, and to intervene when the interests of social justice demand.

We seek to refine emergency medicine and emergency medical services to better respond to changes in population health, as well as to intervene in the social milieu to reduce health crises, improving population health and decompressing burdened emergency departments.

 
 
 

Collaborations and Partners

Colorado SEM Collaborative

The Levitt Center and the Colorado Social Emergency Medicine Collaborative (“CSEMC”) have joined forces to expand the practice of social emergency medicine (SEM) to a broader health community, including hospitals, community partners, social workers, emergency services providers and other stakeholders in Colorado and California. 

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Current Projects and Programs

Supporting Increased Diversity in Medicine with the Social Emergency Medicine Diversity Externship Program

Our externship program helps to foster and increase the diversity of the next generation of social emergency medicine practitioners.

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Dr. White's research expands to include HIV prevention and HIV treatment

Dr. Douglas White expands his HIV screening program to include HIV prevention and an innovative model integrating immediate ART for newly diagnosed HIV infections.

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Improving EMS Care for Family and Patients Near the End-of-Life

Dr. Amelia Breyre’s work on EMS care for patients with serious illness in the out-of-hospital setting. Focusing to improve care in communities that are typically marginalized in their access to hospice and palliative care.

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Improving Palliative Care in the Emergency Department

Program to improve palliative care for ED patients focusing on a sustainable palliative care curriculum to ensure emergency medicine residents have the necessary tools to help the most vulnerable patients and their families.

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“We learn to understand and respect our community partners. Together we improve the lives of our patients and their communities”

dr. harrison alter  |  Co-Founder

 
 
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Andrew Levitt, DO

Andrew Levitt, DO

Our Story

Andrew Levitt, DO, was the Research Director for the Highland General Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine from 1984-2004. Dr. Levitt began to apply rigorous research methods to emergency medicine practice at a time when most emergency physicians were struggling for recognition as a clinical specialty within the organized medical care system. He mentored dozens of aspiring Emergency Medicine researchers, helping each find a niche and an individual style. After Dr. Levitt's death in 2004, his mother, Janet Levitt, and his brother and sister-in-law Dennis and Sharyn Levitt, collaborated with the Emergency Medicine faculty at Highland Hospital to create the Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine which was founded in 2008. With the guidance of the family, a bequest from Dr. Levitt's estate served as the inception funding for the new independent non-profit research institute that now bears his name.

 

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What is Social Emergency Medicine

The term social emergency medicine (SEM) was created by the founders of the Levitt Center and focuses on how medical issues and social determinants bind emergency care to patients and their communities. As Dr. Harrison Alter -founding executive director of the Levitt Center - describes, “Andy was more than a pioneer in emergency medicine research, and more than a physician. He was, quite literally, a great humanitarian… So [we] put those 3 words together—social, emergency, and medicine— and the Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine was born.”

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