Edward J. Benz Jr. is the former president of

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...

in Boston, Massachusetts., and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine as well as a professor of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar worki ...

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools ...

. He was named to the presidency of Dana-Farber in 2000, succeeding

David G. Nathan David Gordon Nathan (born May 25, 1929) is a pediatrician and hematologist. He is known for his authorship of ''Nathan and Oski's Hematology of Infancy and Childhood'', a standard reference in pediatrics, currently in its seventh edition. Nathan ...

. He was also the chief executive officer of Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care, a member of the Governing Board for Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and the director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. In October 2016, Benz was succeeded by Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher.

Biography

He earned his Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School in 1973, and a master's degree (privatum) from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and his bachelor's from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

. His medical school thesis, which was done at

Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...

, won the

Soma Weiss Soma Weiss (January 27, 1898 – January 31, 1942) was a Hungarian-born American physician. Early life Soma Weiss was born in 1898 in Bistriţa, Transylvania, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied physiology and biochemistry in Budapest. Immediate ...

and Leon Resnick Awards for Research. He completed training at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U ...

School of Medicine and

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two fo ...

, in Boston, Mass. He is board certified in both

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the pro ...

and internal medicine and remains clinically active. He is a fellow of the

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

and is known for his work on blood disorders.

Previous positions

Prior to his role at Dana-Farber, Benz was the chairman of the Department of Medicine at the

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hos ...

. At Johns Hopkins, he served as the Sir

William Osler Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phy ...

Professor of Medicine. He also served as physician in chief at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 ...

. He has also been president at the

American Society of Hematology The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is a professional organization representing hematologists. It was founded in 1958. Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted more than 30,000 attendees. The society publishes th ...

, the

Association of American Cancer Institutes The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) is a membership association of 106 academic and freestanding cancer research centers in the United States and Canada. AACI's membership roster consists of National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designa ...

, the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United St ...

, the American Clinical and Climatological Society, and the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research.

Research

Benz is an active researcher who receives funding through the National Institutes of Health and is part of the leukemia research program at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. His research centers on the molecular basis and genetics around inherited blood disorders.

Publications

Benz is an associate editor for the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

.'' He is the author of more than 300 articles, books, reviews and abstracts. In particular, he is coeditor of several standard texts: *''Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice'' (Silberstein, Leslie E., et al. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2012) * ''Principles and Practice of Medicine'' (Benz, Edward J. et al. Principles and Practice of Medicine. Appleton and Lange, 2005) *''Oxford Textbook of Medicine'', 4th ed. (Warrell, D.A., et al. Oxford Textbook of Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2003)

Awards and honors

Margaret L. Kripke Margaret L. Kripke is an American immunologist. She is an expert in photoimmunology and the immunology of skin cancers. She earned a BS and MS in bacteriology, and a Ph.D in immunology, at the University of California at Berkeley. She founded ...

Legend Award, 2011 *

Mentoring Award in Basic Science, 2007 *Chair, National Institutes of Health Director's Blue Ribbon Panel on the future of Intramural Clinical Research, 2003 *

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

Book Award (for ''Oxford Textbook of Medicine''), 2003 *Elected to:

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

, and the

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine." ...

.Association of American Physicians, member directory
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benz, Edward J. Jr. Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people American oncologists American geneticists Harvard Medical School alumni Yale University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Princeton University alumni Presidents of the American Society of Hematology Members of the National Academy of Medicine