Dr. Neal Benowitz is a preeminent clinical pharmacologist and internationally recognized authority on nicotine pharmacology and tobacco addiction. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, where he has maintained a distinguished academic career since joining the faculty in 1973. After earning his MD from the University of Rochester in 1969, he completed clinical training at Bronx Municipal Hospital Center before undertaking a fellowship in clinical pharmacology at UCSF. Dr. Benowitz assumed leadership of the Clinical Pharmacology division at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in 1983 and was promoted to full professor across Medicine, Psychiatry, and Biopharmaceutical Sciences departments in 1987, establishing himself as a central figure in addiction medicine research.
Dr. Benowitz's groundbreaking research has fundamentally transformed our understanding of nicotine metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and addiction mechanisms, establishing him as the definitive scientific authority in tobacco pharmacology. His extensive body of work, comprising over 500 publications, includes the seminal 2010 New England Journal of Medicine review on nicotine addiction that has shaped contemporary understanding of tobacco dependence. His expertise in biomarker assessment of tobacco toxicant exposure has provided critical scientific evidence for tobacco regulation and public health policy, influencing multiple US Surgeon General's Reports on tobacco. Dr. Benowitz's pharmacologic data has been instrumental in developing evidence-based approaches to smoking cessation and informing regulatory decisions regarding tobacco products and nicotine delivery systems.
Beyond his research achievements, Dr. Benowitz has been instrumental in shaping tobacco control policy through his service on numerous national and international committees addressing tobacco-related diseases and smoking cessation. He served as President of both the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics during 1996-1997, demonstrating his leadership in the field. His contributions have been recognized with prestigious awards including the Ferno Clinical Research Award, the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease, and the Oscar B. Hunter Memorial Award in Therapeutics. Dr. Benowitz continues to advance the science of nicotine pharmacology, with recent research extending to the evaluation of emerging nicotine delivery systems including e-cigarettes, maintaining his position at the forefront of tobacco research and policy development.
