Dr. Donald W. Benson

Donald W. Benson was born in Jamestown, NY, and earned his B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1949. He attended the University of Chicago’s Rush Medical School and earned his M.D. in 1950. Following his internship in Buffalo, NY, and his residency in anesthesiology at the University of Chicago Clinics, Dr. Benson remained at the University of Chicago as a faculty member in anesthesiology and a doctoral student in pharmacology.

In 1956, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine recruited Dr. Benson as an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and anesthesiologist-in-charge at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. At that time, anesthesiology at Hopkins was simply a support service. One of Dr. Benson’s major accomplishments was establishing a full fledged residency program in anesthesiology and recruiting top-caliber applicants.

Dr. Benson promoted the use of ventilators in surgery and clinical care. While in Chicago, Dr. Benson and a colleague had developed a unique positive-pressure ventilator. At Hopkins, he used these ventilators during extensive operations and in the immediate postoperative period.

Perhaps Dr. Benson’s most important contribution to Hopkins was his role in developing a surgical intensive care unit. He began his drive for an intensive care unit in the early 1960s and spent almost a decade making this a reality.

By the late 1960s, anesthesiology at Hopkins, under Benson’s leadership matured into subspecialties, including cardiac, obstetric, and ophthalmology anesthesiology. In 1974, Dr. Benson returned to the University of Chicago as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology.