Hara Levy, MD, MMSc

Education

BS, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
MS, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
MD, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Residency, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Fellowship, Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Fellowship, Pediatric Scientist Development Training Program in Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
MMSc, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 

Professional Activities

Dr. Hara Levy is professor (CHS) in the Division of Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine and an NIH-funded physician–scientist whose work turns bedside questions into collaborative, funded science that advances precision respiratory medicine and health equity. She has served as PI on NHLBI K23 and R21 awards and an NIH Director’s Innovator Award and is a current Rosenau Foundation awardee, translating laboratory insights into clinical tools. For two decades she has balanced research and patient care as a pediatric pulmonologist, building the partnerships, data systems, and team-science culture needed to move discoveries rapidly and reliably into care.

As professor and director of research for pediatric pulmonology and sleep medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Levy brings servant leadership, institutional commitment, and pragmatic optimism to cross-disciplinary teams, strengthening clinical excellence, accelerating translation, and mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists to deliver equitable, data-driven, precision respiratory care. Locally, Levy is also co-director of the Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Center and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Development Network site.

Nationally, her leadership includes chairing the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Pediatric Planning Committee and the ATS Research Advisory Committee. She mentors trainees from undergraduate through junior faculty levels and serves on national advisory groups, including the ATS Research Advisory Committee and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Rare As One network for HHT. A committed educator and advocate for access and belonging, she volunteers as an interviewer for college, residency, and fellowship applicants. Levy’s work advances clinical excellence through translational research, expands equitable access to innovation, and strengthens a diverse pipeline of future physician-scientists and clinicians.

Raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, she learned early while shadowing her uncle, a pediatrician, that excellent care begins with conversation. That ethic still guides how she listens, asks precise questions, and uses rigorous science to understand and treat complex disease.

Clinical Interests

Levy is a nationally recognized expert in cystic fibrosis (CF) and CFTR-related metabolic syndrome/CF screen-positive, inconclusive diagnosis (CRMS/CFSPID). She also cares for pediatric patients with bronchiectasis, interstitial lung disease, COVID-related complications, and diagnostic dilemmas. She completed combined internal medicine–pediatrics residency training and a pediatric pulmonary fellowship, and is board-certified in pediatrics and pediatric pulmonology.

Research Interests

Levy’s research spans three integrated areas: (i) CF epidemiology and health disparities, (ii) CF genetics and genomics, and (iii) molecular mechanisms that shape clinical course. Her program links lab-based discovery with patient-centered data to improve diagnosis and treatment. Early work from her group helped stratify CF incidence by race, highlighting demographic shifts and implications for detection, care, and outcomes in historically underrepresented communities. Building on that foundation, her team investigates genetic and epigenetic–metabolic programs that influence disease trajectories to inform targeted, personalized therapies.