Daniel K. Benjamin

Background

About Daniel K. Benjamin

Physician. Research scientist. Mentor. Children’s Healthcare Advocate. Thought Leader. I'm a recognized specialist, mentor and advisor in pediatric infectious diseases. I recruit, develop and retain sub-specialty fellows and physicians committed to the scientific investigation of medical therapies. I have published more than 250 works with more than citations. I have two broad areas of research: to improve the care we provide to infants and children with severe infections, and to determine the appropriate dosing and safety of all medicines used in children.I am the Principal Investigator and Chair of the Pediatric Trials Network (PTN), and help design and lead clinical trials of off-patent medicines in children of all ages across all therapeutic areas. The PTN team has established, or is actively studying, the correct dosing and safety of more than 50 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 FDA for labeling.Over the past 10 years, we have 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. The patients I see are primarily immune-compromised children. My clinical care focuses on providing ideal therapy and dosage to prevent severe post-infection neurologic injury in premature infants. Infants can’t tell you their symptoms, and with dosing, there’s no one perfect answer, so medicine for this fragile population is a combination of intuition and facts. That’s the best part of my job—figuring out the right dose for that one patient, and using that knowledge to help the next patient who comes into the unit.