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About Dr. Levick
Our Mission
I retired at the end of 2019, after thirty years in private practice.
And so, my 2400 Chestnut Street office is closed, and my former office phone number - kaput.
But you can still email me at stephenelevick@gmail.com - or phone me at 215-696-7404.
I rarely check my Penn email, so I won’t even list here.
My current fax number is 215-967-2338.
Though still interested in psychiatry, social sciences and philosophy, as well as the prospect of human reproductive cloning (HRC) - I’ve largely moved on into new interests and activities.
Foremost is writing an all-consuming novel,
I’ve also become interested in phrenology, you know that cranial-bump-reading pseudoscience.
Aside from assembling my own small phrenology collection, I’ve been helping Dr. Jason Brown sell his world-class phrenology collection.
You can preview Dr. Brown’s entire collection at https://www.phrenology-collection.com/ - or see each of its four components separately by clicking on its corresponding blue link below:
3. Drawings PHRENOLOGY-THEMED DRAWINGS
4. Miscellaneous PHRENOLOGICAL MISCELANEA
Here’s a quick overview of his collection’s phrenology books and phrenological heads:
1. It has 245 first-edition, rare phrenology books - all in good condition, some signed by Franz Gall or Johan Spurzheim - phrenology’s founders.
2. Each of the collection’s seventeen phrenological heads is special in its own way, but the one of 9-year-old - Major Mitchell is important historically and is unique as a one and only.
· Major Mitchell himself was tried as an adult for having feloniously assaulted and maimed a younger boy by cutting off one of his testicles.
· Mitchell’s sensational 1834-trial is unique in America and perhaps elsewhere too in that several physicians testified in his defense on phrenological grounds.
· These doctors argued that a certain nefarious bump on a specific spot on the back of Mitchell’s head should be faulted for his heinous crime, since it was actually an enlarged phrenological “Organ of Destructiveness.” And so, they claimed Mitchell himself should be adjudged blameless for his dastardly deeds.
Ø See Major Mitchell’s phrenological head #2, showing his enlarged “Organ of Destructiveness.”
Ø Mitchell’s trial remains relevant to medical-legal thinking on expert witness credibility, and that of their testimony.
Ø You can see his trial’s fascinating transcript at:
Now a word on Jason Brown, M.D.:
He’s so much more than a phrenology collector, as a retired Clinical Professor of Neurology at NYU School of Medicine - and a Fellow in the Royal Society of Medicine.
He’s an internationally celebrated neuroscientist; an aphasiologist and philosopher of mind.
I was so inspired by his book - Mind, Brain and Consciousness that I took a research fellowship with him after my psychiatry training at Yale.
Neuropsychoanalysis later invited me to comment on that book for its 25th anniversary issue on it.
Jason’s keen expertise and interest in brain and language led him naturally to Franz Gall, as not only phrenology’s founder - but as a neurological giant who was the first to understand that various cognitive and emotional functions occur locally in the brain.
Dr. Brown found that Gall was also a pioneer in suggesting a specific area of the brain as crucial to speech and language. See Dr. Brown’s article, “Phrenological studies of aphasia before Broca: Broca's aphasia or Gall's aphasia?” in Brain and Language: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0093934X9290113S
If you’d like to know about Dr. Brown, see: https://www.drjbrown.org/
Should you or anyone you know be interested in buying his impressive phrenology collection, please have them email or call me.
Mucho gracias!
Now, let’s turn to my phrenology collection’s three rare items:
1) an 1870-edition copy of Samuel R. Wells’s How to Read Character: A New Illustrated Hand-Book of Phrenology and Physiognomy that Wells pencil-signed himself on his book’s three-page phrenology assessment form.
· Wells also pencil-signed for a Harry Denny Thomason, whom he phrenologically assessed in New York City on July 9th, 1870.,
· A Penn Kislak Center, rare book librarian said my copy is unique in having a Wells assessment of a given individual.
· He concluded that after viewing the phrenological assessment pages in the book on all copies of all those accessible online.
- On searching myself, I also found none at either hathitrust.org or wellcometrust.org.
- Cornell’s Rare Book and Manuscripts Library specializes in Wells, and his family yet it has no SR Wells-phrenological on any given person.
- Cornell helped me verify Well’s signature as genuine on Harry Denny Thomason’s phrenological assessment form by sending me this image:
Compare it to mine: 
Aside from his having simplified his first initial, they’re identical.
Mr. Harry Denny Thomason was only 21-years-old when Wells phrenologically assessed his noggin, leading me to wonder what became of him afterwards.
I had this oddly inexplicable hunch he eventually attended the University of Pennsylvania, a premonition Penn Archives serendipitously validated!
In fact, he graduated from the School of Medicine 12 years later!
Here’s his bowler derbied, Class of 1882 photo:
On graduating he became an army doctor, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
And when died, the New York Times thought him sufficiently notable to run an obituary on him, with his picture in uniform on 2/27/36.
To my eyes at least, he was one sharp-looking soldier.
2) I have another copy of Wells’ book, though in its 1885 edition:
What makes it extra-special and quite scarce is its having a phrenologicalassessment triplet inside it, where a certain Professor McDonald encoded his markings of it in McMinnville, Oregon on Nov 25th, 1887 - by using pen-pointed dots, checkmarks or X’sto correspond to his assessments of a Susan, Martain and Alice Adams.
Ancestry.com showed Susan A. Adams to be a divorced mother with her two teenage children in tow to make this threesome!
3) I have another exceedingly rare item, one I found when searching for phrenology assessments:
It’s entitled Phrenological Chart, Presenting a Synopsis of the Science of Phrenology, the Phrenological Analysis of the Primitive Powers of the Mind, in Their Various Degrees of Development, the Phenomena Produced by Their Combined Activity, and the Location of the Corresponding Organs, Together with the Phrenological Character of by John Fletcher, published,1837.
· My copy would seem to be the only one in existence to bear a signature on the line following the title’s concluding, “of”
· 
· And also the only copy to have an attached phrenological record, with examiner-made related notes in its explanatory booklet.
· Furthermore,the first part my copy’s phrenology assessment form had clearly been somehow pasted onto the title page before it was printed.
Ø All this is in contrast to the only other copy, held by The National Library of Medicine (NLBM).
Ø The Wellcome Trust’s copy simply reposts it, while the Internet Archive and the Hathi Trust don’t even have images from Fletcher’s booklet.
Ø Presumably, Fletcher not only wrote his book – he used it in his phrenology practice to record his assessments of any given person in it.
o It seems likely he wrote whosevers name himself on the line beneath, “of” – though it’s conceivable he could’ve had them sign it themselves.
o At any rate, you can still see all of Fletcher’s dark-penned ratings for the named person on my copy.
o I invite you to email me with your best guess as t who that person might be.
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As some of you might be wondering about my book’s fate, some 21 years since it was published – I’ll first reprise it briefly with updates below:
Clone Being: Exploring the Psychological and Social Dimensions is still the only book focusing specifically on the psychological and social prospects and implications of cloning for human reproduction.
I chose it its cover to reel in potential buyers from those walking by it in a bookstore, a naïve notion – as the book’s placement in a high traffic area can’t be assumed. And once book sales went online mainly, one has to search for it specifically – or for little old me as its author.
News flash!
I just got my royalty statement for 2024: the publisher sold all of two copies worldwide.
I console myself by imagining many multiples of that to be changing hands as used copies.
At this point, I just want people to read it.
Here are some excerpts from several published book reviews:
Cloning pioneer - Ian Wilmut, wrote that Clone Being "provides the first framework for detailed analysis of the ethical, psychological, and social consequences of human reproductive cloning" in The Times of London Higher Education Supplement.
In The Lancet, Dan Bustillos said it was a "welcome refrain to the cloning debate cacophony, and an argument that policymakers ignore at the peril of future generations."
Attesting to the relevance of the book to human issues beyond cloning, L. Brancaccio Taras, in Choice, wrote: "Although human clones do not exist as yet, this well-written, thought-provoking book also covers current issues, such as ethics and sexuality, which are applicable to the psychological development of all humans."
The book's analogical method elucidates a range of likely psychological and social consequences of human reproductive cloning by drawing parallels to the issues faced by step, adopted, and namesaked individuals, the impact of a parent's wish for a self-resembling child, and the complexities faced by offspring of famous people.
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On the off-chance any of you might be interested, here’s a slice of my professional curriculum vitae:
Awards, Honors, and Membership in Honorary Societies:
May 1973 Phi Beta Kappa
May 1973 B.A. awarded Magna Cum Laude
1990-1992 Marquis Who’s Who in the Northeast
1990-1992 Marquis Who’s Who in the East
1995-1996 Marquis Who’s Who in Science and Engineering
1999 Elected as a Fellow, College of Physicians of Philadelphia
2007-14; 2017-18 Peer-selected as one of America’s “Best Doctors” (top 5%)
2018 Merit Who’s Who in America Albert Nelson Marquis
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Bibliography: [I’ve bolded those items I feel best about among those following, and listed the number of citations it garnered in brackets – as of 5-23-25.
Research Publications (peer reviewed):
1. Levick, S.E., Voneida, T.J. Eye movements in schizophrenic subjects (letter), Arch. Gen. Psychiatry,36:493, 1979.
2. Levick, S.E. Dementia from aluminum pots? (letter) New Engl. J. Med., 303:164, 1980.
3. Levick, S.E., Jalali, B., Strauss, J.S. (1981) With onions and tears: A multi-dimensional analysis of a counter-ritual, Family Process, 20: 77-83, 1985.
4. Levick, S.E., Tepp, A.V. The role of the idealizing transference in the treatment of psychotic patients, J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 173:292-297.
5. Levick, S.E. More on birth seasonality and schizophrenia (letter), Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, 42:738, 1985.
6. Kellar, L.A., Levick, S.E. Reversed hemispheric lateralization of cerebral function: A case study, Cortex, 21:469-476, 1985.
7. Levick, S.E., Peselow, E. Unilateral auditory occlusions and auditory hallucinations (letter), British J. Psychiatry, 148:747-748, 1986.
8. Levick, S.E., Riley, E.N., Kellar, L.A., Peselow, E. Differential perception of syntax and prosody in schizophrenics and depressives, (Abstract of poster presented at Fourth World Congress of Biological Psychiatry) J. Neuroscience, 31 (1-4): 141, 1986.
9. Dworkin, R.H., Lenzenweger, M.F., Moldin, S.D., Skillings, G.F., Levick, S.E.
A multidimensional approach to the genetics of schizophrenia, Am. J. Psychiatry, 145:1077-1083, 1988.
10. Gur, R.E., Mozley, P.D., Resnick, S.M., Levick, S., Erwin, R., Saykin, A.J., Gur, R.C. Relations among clinical scales in schizophrenia, Am. J. Psychiatry, 148:472-478, 1991.
11. Levick, S.E., Lorig, T., Wexler, B.E., Schwartz, G.E. Asymmetrical visual deprivation: A technique to differentially influence lateral hemispheric function, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76:1363-1382, 1993.
12. Levick, S.E. Ethics of embryonic stem cells. (letter) New Engl. J.Med. 351:1689, 2004.
13. Levick, S.E. From Xenopus to Oedipus: “Dolly,” human cloning, and psychological and social “clone-ness,” (invited essay) Cloning and Stem Cells, 9:33-39, 2007.
Editorials, Reviews; Chapters:
1. Levick, S.E. Paradoxes of always-never land, in Wolberg, L.R., & Aronson, M.L. Eds.), Group and Family Therapy, 1983: An Overview, 1983, pp. 310-319.
2. Levick, S.E. Review of: Jacobson, G.F., The Multiple Crises of Marital Separation and Divorce, New York: Grune and Stratton, 1983, New England Journal of Medicine 308:250, 1983.
3. Levick, S.E. Review of: Blumenfield, M. (Ed.), Applied Supervision in Psychotherapy, New York: Grune and Stratton, 1983, New England Journal of Medicine 308:729, 1983.
4. Levick, S.E. Review of: Everstein, D.S., and Everstein, L, People in Crisis: Strategic Therapeutic Interventions, New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1983, New England Journal of Medicine 310:132, 1984.
5. Levick, S.E. Review of: Winson, J., Brain and Psyche: The Biology of the Unconscious, New York: Anchor/Doubleday, 1985, New England Journal of Medicine 312:1333, 1985.
6. Levick, S.E. Review of: Hartmann, E., The Nightmare: The Psychology and Biology of Terrifying Dreams, New York: Basic Books, 1984, New England Journal of Medicine 312:1335, 1985.
7. Levick, S.E., Riley, E.N., and Kellar, L.A. Processing of syntactic and prosodic cues in schizophrenia and depression, Journal of Neuroscience (Abstract of poster presented at the Fourth World Congress of Biological Psychiatry) 31(1-4):141.
8. Levick, S.E., Riley, E.N., and Kellar, L.A. Processing of syntactic and prosodic cues in schizophrenia and depression, In Takahashi, R., Gruzelier, J., & Niwa, S.I. (Eds.), Cerebral Dynamics, Laterality and Psychopathology, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 313-326, 1987.
9. Levick, S.E., and Mannick, E.E. Review of: Beahrs, J.O., Limits of Scientific Psychiatry: The Role of Uncertainty in Mental Health, Brunner/Mazel, New York, 1986, New England Journal of Medicine 316:1669-1670, 1987.
10. Levick, S.E. Review of: Lion, J.R., Adler, W.N., and Webb, Jr, W.L., Modern Hospital Psychiatry, New York: W.W. Norton, 1988, New England Journal of Medicine 319:121, 1988.
11. Levick, S.E. Commentary on Brown, J.W. Microgenetic theory: Reflections and Prospects, Neuropsychoanalysis 3:61-74, 2001; Neuropsychoanalysis 4:104-108, 2002.
12. Levick, S.E. Cloning Conjectures: A reply by the Author, Stephen E. Levick to the book review by Paul M. Brinich of Clone Being: Exploring the Psychological and Social Dimensions, PsycCRITIQUES, 50: [np]
13. Levick, S.E. Review of Neuropsychology and Philosophy of Mind in Process. Essays in Honor of Jason W. Brown, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 197(8): 635-636, 2009.
14. Levick, S.E. “We” and “They” imagine the early human embryo: Some psychological considerations in the stem cell “wars.” World Stem Cell Summit 2008 Report, Genetics Policy Institute, Fort Lauderdale, pp. 119-122, 2006
15. Levick, S.E. Review of Brown, J.W. Neuropsychological Foundations of Conscious Experience, Neuro-psychoanalysis 15:101-102, 2013.
16. Levick, S.E. (Chapter 6) In Caplan, A. & Arp, R. Were it physically safe, human reproductive cloning would not be acceptable. Contemporary Debates in Bioethics, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 89-97, and reply to Devolder, K, Were it physically safe, human reproductive cloning would be acceptable, pp. 101-103, 2013. [3]
Books:
1. Levick, S.E., Clone Being: Exploring the psychological and social dimensions. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, MD, 2004. [24]
Contributions to peer-reviewed clinical research publications. Participation cited but not by authorship:
1. Dworkin, R.H., Mouldin, S.O., and Cornblatt – “Genetics and the phenomenology of schizophrenia,” in Harvey, P.D., Walker, E. (Eds.), Positive and Negative Symptoms of Psychosis: Description, Research, and Future Directions, Routledge - Taylor & Francis Group, New York, pp. 258-288, 1987.
Alternative Media (selected contributions):
1. Dec. 1977 Letter to the Editor, “Suicidal patient,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 33 (10), p. 2.
2. June 1980 Letter to the Editor, “Graphically speaking,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 36(5), p. 65.
3. 4/24/04 Letter to the Editor regarding “The other stem cell debate,” New York Times Magazine.
4. 10/31/04 Letter to the Editor regarding “Without a doubt,” New York Times Magazine.
5. 3/5/05 Featured guest on Natasha Mitchell’s radio show, “All in the Mind” for the program, “Growing up a clone: The psychology of reproductive cloning,” on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The show was also aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
6. 12/11/05 Letter to the Editor regarding: “What would a clone say?” New York Times Magazine.
7. 12/26/05 Letter to the Editor: Snowflakes and Sugarplums,” The Nation.
8. 1/12/06 Interviewed for and quoted in the article, “Stemming Science Fraud,” The Whyfiles(on-line science magazine out of the University of Wisconsin) (http://whyfiles.org/234fraud_again/ )
9. 12/2006 Viewpoint: “Psychological aspects of human cloning: What can we infer from the “clone-like?” Psychiatric Times.
10. 5/31/07 Interviewed for and quoted in “Duplicated Dolly: The cloning story 10 years later.” The Whyfiles (http://whyfiles.org/261cloning2/)
11. 8/18/07 “Cloning People.” Letter commenting on McLachlan, H., 7/21/07, New Scientist, 2617, 19.
12. 3-4/08 Expert opinion essay: “Me and my ‘Mini-Me’: The Psychology of Cloning,” The Penn Gazette.
13. 4/2009 Interviewed for and quoted in “Why are Clones so Creepy?” in the Discovery Channel’s Discovery Tech blog.
14. 6/25/09 Interviewed for and quoted in “Genetic Tests Go Mainstream,” The WhyFiles (http://whyfiles.org/306personal
15. 5/23/11 Letter to the Editor: Fundamentalist ‘Paleologic,’ The Nation.
16. 10/24/16 Letter to the Editor: “Signifying Everything,” The Nation.
17. 2/26/17 Letter to the Editor regarding: “The Immortality Campaign,” New York Times Magazine.
18. 8/10/19 Letter to the Editor regarding: “Human Cloning,” The Economist. https://www.economist.com/letters/2017/08/10/letters-to-the-editor
19. 3/21/21 Comment: Scarcity of Personal Protective Equipment for COVID-19:
Food rationing as a relevant analogue, Journal of the American Medical Association.
20. 2006 Consulted and cited in Ian Wilmut’s After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning.
Grantee:
1. Veterans Administration
2. Institute Professional Association