Our Medical Staff
Camp Simcha
Peter Steinherz, MD, and Laurel Steinherz, MD, Founding Medical Directors
Scott Moerdler, MD, Co-Medical Director
Dr. Moerdler (or as he is known at camp, ‘Dr. Scott’) is a Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Assistant Professor at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. He attended Brandeis University where he studied Studio Art and Theater. Scott completed his medical degree and Pediatrics residency at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and his Pediatric Hematology Oncology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. Clinically, he cares for a range of pediatric cancers and blood disorders, including solid tumors and conditions impacting adolescents and young adults. His clinical research interests are in early phase clinical trials, and his translational interests are in novel immune checkpoint immunotherapy. He serves on and chairs numerous international and national Pediatric Hematology Oncology committees. Dr. Scott first started volunteering in Camp Simcha and Camp Simcha Special in 2004, and has been involved in Camp and Chai Lifeline since.
Joe Oved, MD, Co-Medical Director
Dr. Oved is an Assistant Member of Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He attended New York University where he earned a BA (summa cum laude) in Biology and an MA in Hebrew & Judaic Studies. He then went on to do a Fulbright Fellowship at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. Dr. Oved completed his medical degree (with Honors) at NYU School of Medicine, during which time he was also named a Howard Hughes Medical Fellow. He completed a pediatrics residency at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, and his Pediatric Hematology Oncology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He stayed on faculty at CHOP for several years before being recruited to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Clinically, Dr. Oved uses bone marrow and stem cell transplant to cure hard-to-treat leukemias, blood and immune disorders. His research focuses on the development of novel clinical trials to treat rare immune and blood disorders. He has many peer reviewed publications and has received numerous grants to support his research.
Carolyn Fein Levy, MD, Associate Medical Director, Girls
Dr. Carolyn Fein Levy is a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of NY. She is an associate professor of Pediatrics at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/ Northwell. Dr. Fein Levy is a graduate of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NY. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center in NY and her Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship in 2000, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Fein Levy is the head of the Pediatric Oncology Rare Tumor and Sarcoma (PORTS) program at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. The PORTS Program is dedicated to the treatment of rare pediatric tumors, including bone tumors, soft tissue sarcomas, germ cell tumors, kidney and liver tumors as well as histiocytic disorders. She leads the pediatric cancer predisposition syndrome and cancer risk program and is the principal investigator for Heathy Futures study, which incorporates family and personal history of cancer with multi-dimensional genomic profiling to understand how genetics may contribute to the development of cancer. Dr. Fein Levy is involved in several research trials studying the biology of solid tumors and the implementation of new drugs and treatment plans that improve the long-term survival of cancer patients. Dr. Fein Levy has published multiple papers on a variety of topics and has presented her work nationally and internationally. Dr. Fein Levy volunteers as the camp doctor for Chai Lifeline’s Camp Simcha since 1998 and since 2009 she has served as the associate medical director of the Camp Simcha Girls Medical Staff. As a cancer survivor, she brings a unique combination of medical expertise and personal experience and serves as a role model and living illustration of all the possibilities of life after cancer.
Yosef Levenbrown, MD
Dr. Yosef Levenbrown is a pediatric critical care doctor at AI duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. He has been an attending physician there since 2012. In addition to clinical responsibilities, Dr. Levenbrown teaches pediatric residents and pediatric critical care fellows, and has served as research mentor for a number of pediatric critical care fellows. For the past few years, he has been involved in resuscitation research, and he heads the resuscitation committee at duPont. Dr. Levenbrown also serves as the Medical Director of the duPont apheresis program which he helped establish, in addition to serving on the American Society For Apheresis Physician Committee. Dr. Levenbrown is currently the Medical Director of Baltimore Hatzalah, a position he has held since 2014. Dr. Levenbrown has been a doctor at Camp Simcha since 2013, and directly oversees any campers that sleep in the infirmary. After working as a counselor at Camp Simcha from 1992 – 1995, it was his aspiration to return to Camp Simcha on the medical staff when he grew up.
Camp Simcha Special
Michael Rosen, MD, Interim Medical Director
Dr. Michael Rosen is the Associate Medical Director for Camp Simcha Special. He is a Pediatric Emergency Medicine specialist with more than 30 years of experience. Over the years, Dr. Rosen has been in leadership positions in Pediatric Emergency Rooms, including co-director of the PED ER at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson, Associate Director at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, and Director at the Beth Israel Children’s Hospital of NJ in Newark. His career has been dedicated to teaching of doctors-in-training, noting that he was the Fellowship Director for Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Maimonides and Children Hospital of NJ for more than 15 years and still gives a weekly board preparation course.
Dr. Rosen has been a physician at Camp Simcha Special since its very inception, now more than 20 years. He and his medical team oversee the minute to minute work of meticulously caring for the complex needs of the campers. Staffing, equipment, readiness training, and planning are a year round activity with which Dr. Rosen is diligently involved.
Medical Facilities
- Brand new Health Center staffed by specialized physicians, nurses, EMTs, pharmacist and physical therapist.
- Acute transport ambulanc is on-site at all times, and accompanies campers on all off-site activities.
- Medevac helicopter, on call 24/7, can reach camp within 5 minutes.
- Chemotherapy can be administered at camp.