LEVINSON, ABRAHAM

LEVINSON, ABRAHAM (1888–1955), U.S. pediatrician. Levinson, who studied with Béla Schick and heinrich finkelstein , was professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School. He founded the Levinson Research Foundation for research in pediatric neuropsychiatry. Levinson earned an excellent reputation as clinician, teacher, and historian. He pursued fundamental research in pediatric neurology and was a pioneer in the study of cerebrospinal fluid. He also did research on diphtheria, influenza, and tuberculosis. His most significant contribution was a test for diagnosing tuberculous meningitis and his study on the pathological changes in the brain following streptomycin treatment of that disease. Levinson's books include Cerebrospinal Fluid in Health and in Disease (1919), the first book on the subject to appear in English; Pediatric Nursing (1925); Pioneers of Pediatrics (1936); and a biography of Tobias Cohn (1923). Levinson and Isaac Abt co-edited the Pediatric Year Book (1916–20). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abraham Levinson Anniversary Volume (1949); American Medical Association Journal…, 159 (1955), 1139; S.R. Kagan, Jewish Medicine (1952), 369. (Suessmann Muntner)