Al B. Benson III, M.D is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He is also the Associate Director for Cooperative Groups at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute- designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, at Northwestern University. In addition, he is an Attending Physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Northwestern Medicine), a Staff Physician at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, and a Consultant to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago).
Dr. Benson earned his medical degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo following which he completed an Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals in Madison, Wisconsin. He was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois and Co-Medical Director for the National Public Health Service in Champaign, Illinois. He then served as a Clinical Oncology and Research Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center, where he received an American Cancer Society Fellowship Award.
Dr. Benson is active on numerous professional committees, often serving as an officer. He is a recipient of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Statesman Award (Fellow of ASCO) and has served on a number of committees. He has been a member of the ASCO Task Force on Quality of Cancer Care, Guideline Panel for Advanced Colorectal Cancer, Guidelines Panel for use of Radiofrequency Ablation for Colorectal Cancer, the Co-Chair of ASCO’s Colorectal Cancer Guidelines Subcommittee, and Co-Chair of the Stage II Colon Cancer Guidelines Panel as examples. He serves as a member of the ASCO-ACCC Collaboration Steering Group. He also is the Vice-Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, past Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Gastrointestinal Committee, Deputy Chair for Policy and Implementation, Co- Chair of Cancer Care Delivery Research Committee, and Chair of the Data Monitoring Therapeutic Subcommittee. Dr. Benson is a member of the NCI Rectal/Anal Task Force and chair of the International Rare Cancers Initiative (IRCI), Anal Cancers Committee, and member of the IRCI Small Intestinal Cancer Committee. In addition, he is a Past President of the Illinois Medical Oncology Society, Past President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), a board member and past-chair of the Board of Directors of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and a member of the Board of Directors of the NCCN Foundation. He is the chair of both the NCCN Hepatobiliary Guidelines Panel and of the Colon, Rectal, Small Bowel Adenocarcinoma and Anal Panel, and a member of the Pancreatic Cancer and Neuroendocrine Panels. He is a past President of the International Society of GI Oncology (ISGIO) and past Chair of both the BIG 10 Cancer Research Consortium (BTCRC) Steering Committee and GI Committee. He was appointed co-chair of the President’s Cancer Panel, Colorectal Cancer Screening Subcommittee. Dr. Benson is a member of the Executive Committee of the Patient Advocate Foundation, and the National Patient Advocate Foundation (immediate past president). Additionally, he is a medical advisory board member for Debbie’s Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer and Fight Colorectal Cancer.
Dr. Benson is on the editorial board of the Oncologist, ASCO Connection (term completed), Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Health and Drug Benefits, Personalized Medicine in Oncology, Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, and Gastrointestinal Cancer Research among others. His most recent national awards include the NCCN Rodger J. Winn award, the ACCC Outstanding
Achievement in Clinical Research Award, the Cancer Care Physician of the Year Award and Fellow of ACCC (FACCC) designation (first class of fellows awarded) Dr. Benson’s research is primarily in the areas of gastrointestinal cancer clinical trials, biologic therapies, phase I cancer clinical trials, health services research, and cancer guideline development. He has authored or coauthored numerous reports, reviews and book chapters focusing on these topics. His research has been awarded funding from a variety of sources including the NIH.
