Sillimanian nurse unmasks serial killer
November 3 – November 9, 2025
In 2001, a serial killer in Massachusetts was unmasked by a Filipina nurse – a Sillimanian.
“We don’t talk about nurses killing in school. I had never heard that mentioned,” said Fidelita Lim Levy, a 1959 graduate of the Silliman University College of Nursing. She is also an active member of the Chesapeake Bay Silliman Alumni (CBSA).
Levy topped the Philippine nursing board exams in 1959. She then worked at Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City and the Bohol Provincial Hospital. In 1962, Levy was recruited to work at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN, part of the Mayo Clinic.
In 1995, Levy supervised the Office of Healthcare Inspections at the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. It was a new office, and she was given free rein to run it.
Among the cases Levy and her team investigated concerned a series of six mysterious deaths in Massachusetts. They discovered that a nurse, Kristin H. Gilbert, killed six patients by injecting high doses of epinephrine, causing cardiac arrest. She was found guilty in 2001 and is currently serving four consecutive life sentences.
In April 2001, Levy was given the Golden Eagle Award for the Gilbert investigation. The award is given to individuals who have done exceptional work in the US inspector general community.
Levy also published two papers in Nursing Research and the Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery which led to better care for patients and eased the burden of nurses. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from Loyola University in Chicago.
“Her remarkable achievements, which demonstrate a great deal of hard work and dedication, are truly noteworthy,” said Dr. Romulo Villanueva (OSA 2008).
Fidelita Lim Levy and her husband, Dr. Neil Levy, a pharmacologist, lived in seven states and 15 cities before retiring in Fairfax, VA. They often host the fellowships of the Chesapeake Bay Silliman Alumni.
“We are very proud of Nang Del,” said CBSA president, Danilo Luzada. “We are very thankful for the many ways she continues to kindle the Silliman Spirit among our alumni.”
Levy’s life story was highlighted in the September 2025 issue of the Golden Gazette, published by the Department of Family Services of Fairfax County, Virginia.
The full story, “Fidelita Levy: A Life of Care and Compassion” by Gwen Jones, can be read at https://bit.ly/42tk0RJ
(Contributed by Adlai J. Amor)
