Dateline DFCI
Edward J. Benz Jr., M.D., to succeed David G. Nathan, M.D., as DFCI president
Known as an excellent researcher, clinician, teacher, and administrator, Edward J. Benz Jr., M.D., an internationally recognized hematologist, will assume the presidency of Dana-Farber this fall.
Edward J. Benz Jr., M.D.
Chair of the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine since 1995, Benz holds the Sir William Osler Professorship, one of the most prestigious positions in U.S. academic medicine. He is president of the American Society of Hematology and is widely known for his work in hemoglobin and red cell membrane disorders.
"Dr. Benz brings much to the Harvard medical community, and I look forward to working with him as a close partner to foster greater research collaboration across all the Harvard medical institutions," said Joseph Martin, M.D., Ph.D., dean of Harvard Medical School and chair of the committee that selected Benz after a nationwide search.
Benz succeeds David G. Nathan, M.D., who has led the Institute since October 1995 during a period of enormous change and growth. "It is a special honor to succeed my longtime mentor, David Nathan, who has done a fabulous job of bringing so many groups together to form the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center," commented Benz.
"I am grateful for this chance to play a key role in a wonderful collaborative effort to conquer cancer," he added. " The next decade will be pivotal in the campaign to control cancer, and we are particularly wellpositioned to lead the assault on these diseases. I am anxious to rejoin my many friends and colleagues at Harvard in advancing this cause."
As president, Benz, 54, will also serve as CEO of Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare and principal investigator and director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, the research consortium that includes DFCI, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), Massachusetts General Hospital, Children's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
"I am grateful for this chance to play a key role in a wonderful collaborative effort to conquer cancer."
— Edward J. Benz Jr., M.D.
A 1973 Harvard Medical School graduate, Benz earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1968. He completed an award-winning medical school thesis at Children's Hospital in Nathan's division, and later served as an intern and resident at BWH. He received further training at the National Institutes of Health before joining the faculty in the Department of Medicine at Yale University, where he was appointed chief of the Division of Hematology in 1987. He was chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine from 1993 to 1995. A past president of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, he is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
His wife, Margaret Vettese, Ph.D., R.N., has been on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and is an expert in qualitative research and end-of-life decision-making.
The next edition of Paths of Progress will feature a closer look at Benz and his perspective on Dana-Farber's future.
