Danny Benjamin M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., is the Kiser‑Arena Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University and Deputy Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, where he has built a nationally recognized career advancing pediatric therapeutics and developing the next generation of physician‑scientists.
Dr Benjamin has led several major federally funded research networks, most notably serving as PI and Chair of the NICHD‑sponsored Pediatric Trials Network (PTN) since its inception in 2010. Under his leadership, the PTN established dosing or safety data for 111 therapeutics used in one or more populations in pediatric medicine across every pediatric subspecialty. He has been able to leverage his research to shape public policy. His research has been quoted multiple times on the floor of the US House and Senate in the bipartisan passage and renewal of the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act and the Pediatric Research Equity Act. Danny has leveraged his research to serve as a national resource for training, mentorship, and a platform for junior investigators to launch their own research careers.
Dr Benjamin has won 10 awards for teaching and mentorship at the Universities of Virginia (for teaching students), and Duke (for teaching and mentorship of students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty). He has received 8 grants for mentorship from NIH as PI or MPI including 3 T32s (clinical pharmacology, pediatric research, and pediatric clinical trials), R25 (for high school, college, and medical students), 3 K12s (clinical research, pediatric research, and clinical pharmacology), and a K24. Over 300 trainees from 46 states have traveled to Duke to attend Danny’s NIH-sponsored clinical research training programs since 2012; and 1,067 trainees applied to attend his summer program for introduction to clinical research for high school, college, and medical students this year.
Dr Benjamin’s dedication to mentorship has been both innovative and far‑reaching, extending across a wide range of pediatric sub-specialties and spanning mentees from high school students to mid-career faculty. His commitment to fostering independent research careers is further evident through his support of 12 sub-specialty fellows and faculty who have secured extramural career development awards. Of these mentees (for which he was primary mentor or ‘mentor-to-the-mentor’) 3 have current K23 awards, and 9 have progressed from fellows to tenured faculty with their own independent research careers with their own mentees. Danny’s mentorship has catalyzed exponential impact across pediatrics, establishing him as a leader whose guidance continues to shape the field.
