Daniel Kelly Benjamin, Jr, MD, PhD, MPH, was recently elected into the Association of American Physicians (AAP). Benjamin is the Kiser-Arena Distinguished Professor, a professor of pediatrics in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Quantitative Sciences, and a member in the Duke Clinical Research Institute.
Benjamin is the principal investigator and chair of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Pediatric Trials Network. The Network is responsible for designing and leading clinical trials of off-patent medicines in children of all ages across all therapeutic areas. The team has established, or is actively studying, the correct dosing and safety of more than 70 of the most commonly used medicines in children. Each of these trials is conducted under an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with guidance from the Food and Drug Administration for labeling.
Notably, the Pediatric Trials Network has directly impacted the healthcare of over 90% of American children.
Signature programs of the Network include clinical trials in premature, term infants, breast feeding mothers, and obese children. Over the past 10 years, Benjamin’s group has enrolled more premature infants, at more sites, in more clinical trials of off-patent anti-infectives under an IND than all other academic medical centers, pharmaceutical companies, and government agencies in the world, combined.
Benjamin is recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a premiere mentor and educator. His research program serves as a platform to train students and early career investigators. His group has a clinical research summer program for high school and college students targeting under-represented minority students, and he is the primary mentor for medical students, residents, subspecialty fellows, and multiple junior faculty. He has been the primary or secondary mentor for 10 faculty who have received career development awards and who have then gone on to secure their own funding.
Congratulations on this prestigious honor!
About the Association of American Physicians
Founded in 1885, the AAP is an honorific society composed of leading senior physician–scientists who make significant contributions to improving patient health. Members of the AAP “pursue medical knowledge, and the advancement through experimentation and discovery of basic and clinical science and their application to clinical medicine.” Benjamin will be inducted during a ceremony at the AAP Annual Meeting April 21-23, 2023 in Chicago.