The Roland Levinsky Building
Completed in 2007
Professor Roland Jacob Levinsky, Immunologist
1943-2007 born Bloemfontein, South Africa
University of Plymouth
Vice-Chancellor 2002-07
University College London
Vice-Provost for Biomedicine and Head of Graduate School 1999-2002
Institute of Child Health
Dean and Director of Research 1990-99
Hugh Greenwood Professor of Immunology 1985-2002
Great Ormond Street Hospital, London
Honorary Consultant in Immunology 1978-1999
Roland Levinsky, an internationally renowned immunologist, performed the UK's first successful children’s bone-marrow transplant at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1979 and was one of the first UK scientists to obtain funding for gene therapy clinical trials for treating children with immunodeficiency conditions.
A great teacher and mentor who lectured internationally and co-authored many important research papers, as well as editing several books on immunodeficiency diseases. As Dean of the Institute of Child Health in London, Professor Levinsky transformed the organisation into a top-class research institution. On appointment as Vice-Chancellor to the University of Plymouth in 2002 he began building a strong university centralised on a single site, enabling the arts and sciences to interact with each other.
This building, designed for community as well as academic use, has had a significant impact on the subsequent transformation of the University and its role at the heart of the creative development of the city. Professor Levinsky was dedicated to the needs of the individual student and passionate that everyone should have the opportunity to reach their full potential whatever their area of study.