Al Benson III, MD, FACP Professor of Medicine, Associate Director for Clinical Investigations
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University

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 Clinical Investigations and Chair of the Clinical Protocol Scientific Review and Monitoring System for 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, a Staff Physician at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, and a Consultant to the 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 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 and has served on a number of committees.  He is currently a member of the Task Force on Quality of Cancer Care, the Co-Chair of ASCO’s Colorectal Cancer Guidelines Subcommittee, the Stage II Colon Cancer Guidelines Panel and the Guidelines Panel for use of Radiofrequency Ablation for Colorectal Cancer Hepatic Metastases.  He also is the Chair of both the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Gastrointestinal and Data Monitoring Committees.  In addition, he is a member of several medical societies, and is a Past President of the Illinois Medical Oncology Society, a Trustee and President-Elect for the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) now serving as chair.   He is the past President of the International Society of GI Oncology (ISGIO).

Dr. Benson’s research is primarily in the areas of gastrointestinal cancer clinical trials, cancer clinical trials, biologic therapies, phase I cancer clinical trials and cancer guideline development.  He has authored or coauthored numerous reports, reviews and book chapters focusing on these topics.  His research in biologics, cancer therapy, and cancer prevention has been awarded funding from a variety of sources including the NIH.