He found his tribe during rotations, now he’s helping others find theirs

As an elementary school student in Newport News, Virginia, Stephen A. Levin, M’79, knew he wanted to help people. That’s why the medical field appealed to him. So, after completing his undergraduate studies at Duke University, he began medical school on the MCV Campus.

“As I did my rotations and worked with pediatricians, I realized this was my tribe,” he said. “These are the people I belong with.”

When he graduated, he matched for residency training at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia and launched his career as a pediatrician. One that he called the “best job in the world.”

“Generally, when kids get sick, they have one problem,” he said. “We take care of that problem and they’re good to go. They’re in a good state of health and go on to live good, productive lives.”

As a National Health Service Corps scholarship recipient, Levin committed to provide two years of primary care services in an underserved area after residency. At a clinic in Camden, New Jersey, alongside like-minded young pediatricians, he found himself surrounded by an environment of need.

“They were really tough times,” Levin said. “The clinic, in a converted church, wasn’t an ideal facility. Our patients lived in poverty. They were in poor social situations and in dysfunctional families with poor access to health care.”

He and his colleagues enjoyed the work, but the 1980s brought more challenges with the crack cocaine and AIDS epidemics.

“Ours was one of the largest pediatric AIDS populations in the country,” Levin said. “After seven years, I was burned out.

A commitment to ‘doing something’

He left the clinic and became an affiliate of Einstein Medical Center, also in an underserved area of Philadelphia but in a community with more social support.

Over time, Levin and his wife, Christine, a business attorney, spent time thinking about the lack of access to primary health care faced by marginalized populations.

“It really hit me how difficult it was for some patients to access health care and I certainly saw the shortage of primary care physicians,” he said. “That’s when Chris and I started having the conversation about doing something and she saw the same need that I saw.”

The couple endowed the Stephen A. Levin, M.D., and Mrs. Christine C. Levin Scholarship to encourage medical students to pursue primary care. The scholarship is particularly targeted to students with a commitment to practice in underserved urban or rural areas. It is expected to be awarded for the first time in the 2025-26 academic year.

“To go into a specialty like pediatrics, or any primary care specialty, you’re going to forgo income when you make that decision,” Levin said. “If you have significant medical school debt, it’s going to be much harder to make that decision. That was one reason we decided to fund a scholarship for primary care physicians.”

The couple’s scholarship is a natural complement to the School of Medicine’s International/Inner City/Rural Preceptorship program for students committed to caring for the underserved.

In the spring, the Levins, who still live in Philadelphia, visited the MCV Campus for the first time since 1979.

“It was amazing,” Stephen Levin said. “The campus has changed so much. I didn’t recognize the buildings because everything around them was completely different. It was a great experience. The innovation and technology in the medical school’s McGlothlin Medical Education Center were stunning.”

They also enjoyed touring the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s inpatient tower, opened in spring 2023.

Through their gift, more aspiring physicians on the MCV Campus can consider following in Levin’s footsteps as a pediatrician committed to caring for the underserved. Especially if primary care physicians are their tribe.