22 | MAY 7 • 2020
T
he battle against
COVID-19 will most
likely be won in a
lab, and two local doctors
are at the forefront of
critical research and testing
programs designed to unlock
the mysteries surrounding
the novel
coronavirus.
Dr. Matthew
Sims, Director
of Infectious
Diseases
Research at
Beaumont, and
Dr. Phil Levy,
Chief Innovation
Officer of the
Wayne State
University
Physician Group
and Assistant
Vice President
of Translational Science
and Clinical Research
Innovation for Wayne
State University, are
leading different testing
efforts designed to better
understand how the virus
behaves and determine who
is infectious, who may be
immune, how we potentially
treat patients and how we
navigate life with COVID-19
in our midst.
“It’
s interesting times
because we’
ve never faced
anything like this,” Levy said.
“We’
re really going to have
to think as a collective.”
Beaumont Health is
launching the nation’
s largest
serological testing study for
COVID-19 antibodies. The
health care system will test
its 38,000+ employees on a
voluntary basis and measure
antibodies in the blood
to determine a person’
s
immune response to the
virus. Beaumont is hoping
to uncover how many team
members have antibodies
but never showed signs
of the virus. It’
s believed
up to 50% of those who
contract COVID-19 may not
experience symptoms but
can still infect others.
Doctors are also trying
to learn whether having
COVID-19 antibodies
protects people from
becoming re-infected.
Sims, the study’
s principal
investigator, believes it does.
“This study will help prove
that antibodies protect those
that have them,” he says. “It
is our hope that this study
provides a template for
others to conduct similar
research that will collectively
clarify many unknowns
about COVID-19.”
People who have high
levels of COVID-19
antibodies in their blood
may be asked to donate
plasma to treat seriously
ill patients. Sims says that
method has worked in other
countries. The study could
also help determine who
should be vaccinated first.
Sidney and Madeline
Forbes; Nathan and
Catherine Forbes; the
Levy Dresner Foundation;
Stephen and Bobbi Polk;
Warren Rose and the Rose
Family; Mickey, Steven,
Margie and Edward
Shapiro; and Gwen and S.
Evan Weiner collectively
contributed more than $3
million to support initial
funding for the research.
DRIVE-THROUGH, MOBILE
TESTING AND MORE
Across town at the Michigan
State Fairgrounds in Detroit,
it’
s an eerie scene. White
tents are set up in a row
and orange cones line the
entranceway. As cars pull up,
workers in masks, gloves,
face shields, and other
protective gear approach and
administer COVID-19 tests.
The effort has been under
way for several weeks to test
first responders, health care
continued on page 23
Dr. Matthew
Sims
Dr. Phil Levy
Put to the Test
Local doctors lead COVID-19 studies that could help solve this crisis.
ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Jews in the D
A mobile
COVID-19
testing site
COURTESY OF PHIL LEVY