Shoshana Levy, PhD, a longtime cancer researcher, professor, and mentor to women in science, died November 16, 2022, at the age of 83.
Levy was born in Israel on May 3, 1939. She was raised in Tel Aviv and served in the Israeli Defense Forces from 1957 to 1959. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Tel Aviv University in 1963, a master’s in biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1965, and a PhD in biochemistry from Tufts University in 1970.
In 1972, Levy came to Stanford University as a research fellow. She returned as a senior research associate from 1975 to 1979, then took a position at SRI International. She returned to Stanford as a senior research scientist in 1984. In 1994, she was appointed professor of medicine in the oncology division, a position she held until her death.
Levy was best known for her discovery of tetraspanins, a family of cell surface proteins that play an important role in cancer metastasis and the immune system. She founded an international scientific meeting on tetraspanins in 2000. Most recently, she was continuing research on cancer metastasis.
Throughout her career, Levy authored more than 130 scientific publications. She served as an associate editor for the Journal of Immunology from 1995 to 2000.
Levy was known for championing women in science. She was the chair of the Katharine McCormick Advanced Postdoctoral Scholarship to Support Women in Academic Medicine Committee. For many years, she was a mentor for the Palo Alto chapter of the Association for Women in Science.
Levy joined the AACR in 1991. She was a member of AACR’s Cancer Immunology, Pediatric Cancer, and Tumor Microenvironment Working Groups. She also belonged to the Women in Cancer Research.
Levy was married to Ronald Levy, MD, FAACR, also a renowned Stanford University oncology professor and researcher.
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