On the passing of Brandon Levan

We have some very sad news to share. Brandon Levan passed away last week after a three month bout with cancer. According to his brother, “Due to his strong will and character, he never gave in and he fought the cancer to his last breath and passed away with dignity and bravery.” Brandon was a very committed volunteer with the CT Health Policy Project for the last two years and recently joined our Board of Directors. He graduated from Yale in 2008 and became a systems analyst/developer. Earlier this year, he quit his job to apply to medical school and become a healer. Brandon had a strong sense of how the health care system was failing consumers and he worked hard to change policies. He worked with the Project and New Haven Legal Assistance on PCCM outreach across the New Haven and Hartford communities, he attended meetings and testified at the Capitol, and was a main author of our candidate briefing book this year. Throughout his illness, he was still submitting chapters to the book. His last message to us was upbeat; he talked about how the experience of his illness made even more clear to him the unfairness in the health care system and how badly it needs fixing. Brandon was an inspiration to students, volunteers and staff here at the Project and will be dearly missed.
Ellen Andrews