Robert Ira Lewy (born October 16, 1943) is an American doctor who has conducted research on

aspirin Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain, fever, and/or inflammation, and as an antithrombotic. Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat inc ...

therapy in

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

and safety in recipients of

silicone A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...

breast implant A breast implant is a prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast. In reconstructive plastic surgery, breast implants can be placed to restore a natural looking breast following a mastectomy, to correct congenital ...

s. During the 1990s, he was one of several doctors who played an active role in litigation against breast implant manufacturers.

Career

Lewy earned a degree in biology from

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

in 1964, where he was selected to be a member of the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

honor society as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. He then earned a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1970. He practiced clinical hematology and

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

from 1979 until 2005, except for a brief period working for the

Cancer Treatment Centers of America Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, is a national, for-profit network of five comprehensive cancer care and research centers and three out patient care centers that serves cancer patients throughout ...

in Tulsa. During this time he was Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the

University of Texas Health Science Center The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT& ...

and the

Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...

in Houston. Lewy was accepted as a Fellow of the

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

in 1983. Lewy has published papers on the alleged health effects of silicone

s During the 1990s, Lewy had a "lucrative practice" acting as an expert witness in litigation against breast implant litigation as well as treating women with silicon-breast implants.Gina Kolata,
A case of justice, or a total travesty?; How the battle over breast implants took Dow Corning to Chapter 11
, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

,'' June 13, 1995. Seeing a large volume of patients - many of whom were referred to him by lawyers - Lewy was one of several doctors named in a

article in which some medical experts criticized the "assembly-line practices" of a few doctors as being "intended more to help women collect vast court awards than to treat medical problems". In the same article patients said they were satisfied with and grateful for the treatment they received from Lewy and other doctors, and Lewy stated that he and other doctors "have taken on large patient loads because many other doctors are ignoring the health problems of women with implants". The most recent review November 9, 2015 from Brown University in which Dr Lewy participated (reference 89)concluded that the 20 year experiment had failed to prove the absolute safety of silicone gel breast implants and further studies were needed (Rohrbach et Balk below).

Charitable activities

Since retiring in 2005, Lewy has made several large philanthropic gifts. In 2006, he donated over $1 million to

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...

, his high school alma mater for the establishment of the Dr. Robert Ira Lewy Multimedia Center, to serve as the high school's central academic research facility. He established a proprietary family genealogy archive at the Leo Baeck Institute. In 2019 he donated $350,000 to The Leo Baeck Institut, the Gift by naming LBI’s reference services as the Dr. Robert Ira Lewy Reference Service (the “Naming”), to be announced on June 12, 2019. In late 2013, Lewy made a bequest of $800,000 to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

to establish the Dr Robert Ira Lewy Permanent Endowment in German Jewish History and Culture at the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. He is a member of the Legacy Society of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewy, Robert Ira American oncologists Living people 1943 births Franklin & Marshall College alumni Princeton University alumni Stuyvesant High School alumni Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni