Rate My Professor Benjamin Luft

Benjamin J. Luft, MD, serves as the Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. He earned his MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1976, followed by residencies in Internal Medicine at New York University-Beth Israel in 1979 and Veterans Administration Medical Center in 1980, and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Stanford Hospital and Clinics in 1982. Board-certified in Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1979 and in Infectious Diseases in 1982, Dr. Luft was appointed to his endowed professorship in 1987. He chaired the Department of Medicine from 1994 to 2006 and currently directs the Stony Brook World Trade Center Health Program as Principal Investigator, overseeing clinical services, research, and wellness initiatives for 9/11 responders. Elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1993, his career reflects extensive leadership in academic medicine and public health.

Dr. Luft is an internationally recognized expert in infectious diseases, with particular focus on Lyme disease treatment, AIDS-related conditions, and the long-term health consequences for World Trade Center responders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, respiratory illnesses, dementia risk, amyloidosis, and neurological sequelae. His research has produced over 300 articles, 16 reviews, and 9 book chapters, contributing to advancements in Borrelia genomics and post-disaster health monitoring. Key publications include 'DSM-IV post-traumatic stress disorder among World Trade Center responders 11-13 years after the disaster of 11 September 2001' (Psychological Medicine, 2016), 'Mortality among World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers, 2002-2011' (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2016), 'Phylogenomic identification of regulatory sequences in bacteria: an analysis of statistical power and an application to Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato' (mBio, 2015), and 'Cohort Profile: World Trade Center Health Program General Responder Cohort' (International Journal of Epidemiology, 2015). Leading multimillion-dollar CDC grants, such as a $60 million award for WTC services, Dr. Luft has advanced integrated mental and physical health monitoring for exposed populations and spearheaded oral history projects donated to the Library of Congress, underscoring his impact on clinical practice, ethics in medicine, and responder care.