Leslie Benet, PhD
Professor
Bioengineering
School of Pharmacy

415-476-3853

Dr. Benet, Professor and former Chairman (1978-1998), Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, received his A.B. (English), B.S. (Pharmacy), M.S. from the University of Michigan and Ph.D. from the University of California.

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He has received nine honorary doctorates: Uppsala University, Sweden (Pharm.D., 1987), Leiden University, The Netherlands (Ph.D., 1995), University of Illinois at Chicago (D.Sc., 1997), Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (D.Sc., 1997), Long Island University (D.Sc., 1999), University of Athens, Greece (Ph.D., 2005), Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium (Ph.D., 2010), University of Michigan (D.Sc., 2011) and University of Lisbon, Portugal (Ph.D., 2016). His research interests, more than 620 publications, 7 books and 12 patents are in the areas of pharmacokinetics, biopharmaceutics, drug delivery and pharmacodynamics. Dr. Benet is listed by Clarivate Analytics as one of the most highly cited pharmacologists worldwide with his published peer-reviewed papers cited over 33,000 times, while Google Scholar credits him with over 50,000 citations. His most recent work has addressed the deficiencies of in vitro-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) and different approaches to advancing our understanding and prediction of clearance processes. Dr. Benet was a Founder/Editor of the JOURNAL OF PHARMACOKINETICS AND BIOPHARMACEUTICS (1973-98) and Associate Editor of PHARMACOLOGY AND THERAPEUTICS (1995-2000). He presently serves a member of the Editorial boards of PHARMACOLOGY and AAPS JOURNAL. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) and the Controlled Release Society (CRS). In 1982, Dr. Benet received the APhA Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (APS) Research Achievement Award in Pharmaceutics and the University of Michigan, College of Pharmacy, Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 1985, he served as President of APS. During 1986, Dr. Benet was a Founder and first President of the AAPS. In 1987, Dr. Benet was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 1988, he received the ACCP Distinguished Service Award and in 1989, the AAPS Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award. In 1990, he was the recipient of the Rho Chi Lecture Award, and the UCSF Long Teaching Award, while in 1991, he received the Volwiler Research Achievement Award of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). In 1993-94, he served as AACP President. In 1995, he received the Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT); in 1996, the AAPS Distinguished Service Award; and in 2000 the APhA Takeru Higuchi Research Prize and the AAPS Wurster Research Award in Pharmaceutics. In 2001 he was awarded the Høst-Madsen Medal of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and the UCSF Outstanding Faculty Mentorship Award (repeated in 2016). In 2004, he was awarded the Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress Research Achievement Award and the CRS Career Achievement in Oral Drug Delivery Award. In 2007 he was selected as the UCSF Distinguished Clinical Research Lecturer; in 2010, the ASCPT Hunter Memorial Award in Therapeutics; and in 2011 the ACCP Distinguished Investigator award. In 2012, the September issue of PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH was dedicated in his honor and he was made an honorary member of FIP. In 2013, he was awarded the APhA Ebert Prize, the AAPS Journal Outstanding Manuscript award and the September issue of JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES was dedicated in his honor. In 2015 he received the ISSX North American Scientific Achievement award; in 2016 the Remington Honor Medal from the APhA, the highest honor in American Pharmacy; and in 2017 a full day symposium in his honor entitled “The Cutting Edge in Pharmaceutical Sciences—50 Years of Progress Celebrating Les Benet’s 80th Birthday” was held in conjunction with the Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Frankfurt Foundation for the Quality of Medicines. Dr. Benet formerly served as Chair of the Pharmacology Study Section and the Pharmacological Sciences Review Committee for the NIH, the FDA CBER Peer Review Committee, the FDA Expert Panel on Individual Bioequivalence, the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the FIP, the Organizing Committee for the FIP Millennial World Congress of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Congressionally mandated NAM/National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Accelerating the Research, Development and Acquisition of Medical Countermeasures Against Biological Warfare Agents and the FIP Foundation for Education and Research and as a member of the FDA Science Board, the FDA Generic Drugs Advisory Committee and the NRC Biodefense Standing Committee. He presently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Medicines360, a nonprofit pharmaceutical company, emphasizing products for women’s health. July 2023

Awards

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  • Remington Honor Medal, American Pharmacists Association, 2016
  • Doctor of Philosophy, honoris causa, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2016
  • William B. Abrams Lectureship, FDA/CDER and ASCPT, 2015
  • William B. Abrams Lectureship, FDA/CDER and American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 2015
  • North American Scientific Achievement Award, International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics, 2015
  • "25 Top Pharmacy Professors" in USA, Medical Technology Schools, 2015
  • Listed among "25 Top Pharmacy Professors" in the U.S.A., Medical Technology Schools, 2015
  • Guest Professorship, Sichuan University, Sichuan Province, China, 2014-2019
  • 1 of 16 pharmacologists worldwide to be listed in both 2001 and 2014 compilations, Thompson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher, 2014
  • Highly cited Researcher-Pharmacology, Thomson Reuters, 2014
  • AAPS Journal Manuscript Award for the Most Outstanding Manuscript, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, 2013
  • 2013 APhA-APRS Ebert Prize, American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science (APhA-APRS),, 2013
  • Busse Lecture, University of Wisconsin, 2013
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, CPSA Shanghai 2012: From Bench to Decision Making – From Basics to Applications, Shanghai, China, 2012
  • Honorary Member, Chinese Society of Clinical Pharmacy, Zhengzhou, China, 2012
  • Honorary Member, International Pharmaceutical Federation, The Netherlands, 2012
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, International Symposium on Past, Present and Future Molecular Pharmacokinetics, Tokyo, Japan, 2012
  • Invited Keynote Lecture, NRPB – AAPS Workshop on Clinical and Diagnostic Biomarkers, Taipei, Taiwan, 2012
  • Invited Keynote Lecture, Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Pharmacy Research Days, Texas Tech University, 2012
  • Visiting Professor of the First Clinical Medical College of Zhengzhou University, and the Institute, Zhengzhou University, Henan Province, China, 2012
  • Distinguished Investigator Award, American College of Clinical Pharmacology, 40th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2011
  • The AstraZeneca Drug Hunting Lecture, AstraZeneca Research & Development Mölndal, Sweden, 2011
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, Symposium, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, 2011
  • Inaugural Albert B. Prescott Distinguished Lecture, Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, 2011
  • Named “National Associate”, National Research Council, 2011
  • Gerhard Levy Distinguished Lectureship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2011
  • Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Michigan, 2011
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, 18th International Symposium on Microsomes and Drug Oxidations, Beijing, China, 2010
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, 2010 Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress and the AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition, New Orleans,, 2010
  • Oscar B. Hunter Memorial Award in Therapeutics, American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 111th Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, 2010
  • Doctor of Philosophy, honoris causa, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, 2010
  • Elected Fellow, Controlled Release Society, 2010
  • Invited Keynote Lecture, The 42nd Annual Pharmaceutics Graduate Student Research Meeting (PGSRM), The Ohio State University, 2010
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, 129th Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, Kyoto, Japan, 2009
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, 9th International Symposium of the Controlled Release Society Indian Chapter, Mumbai, India, 2009
  • Nagai Foundation Tokyo Distinguished Lectureship 2008, 2008
  • National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 2008
  • Invited Keynote Speaker, 100th Anniversary of School of Pharmacy, NDMC; 2008 PST & TSHP Joint International Conference, 2008
  • Paul Ehrlich Magic-Bullet Award 2008 Lifetime Achievement, 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Prize Awarded to Paul Ehrlich, Nürnberg, Germany, 2008
  • Invited Featured Speaker, 109th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 2008
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, 28th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Drug Delivery Systems, Tokyo, Japan, 2008
  • Keynote Lecture, 8th International Symposium on Advances in Technology & Business Potential of New Drug Delivery Syst, 2008
  • Invited Plenary Lecture, Modified Release Forum, West Point, PA, 2008
  • Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, iMED.UL (Research Institute for Medicines and Pharmaceutical Sciences) University of Lisbon, Portuga, 2008
  • Plenary Lecture, 7th International Symposium on Advances in Technology and Business Potential of New Drug Delivery Sy, 2007
  • Keynote Lecture, Biocomputing Day, Division of Biocomputing, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, 2007
  • International Honorary Member, Japan Society for the Study of Xenobiotics, Sendai, Japan, 2007
  • Keynote Lecture, Meeting of the European Drug Absorption Network, Leuven, Belgium, 2007
  • UCSF 7th Distinguished Clinical Research Lecturer, University of California San Francisco, 2007
  • Graduation Speaker, University of Michigan College of Pharmacy, Ann Arbor, MI, 2007
  • Plenary Lecture, 16th International Symposium on Microsomes and Drug Oxidation, Budapest, 2006
  • Plenary Lecture, 4th International COE Symposium, Target Validation, Lead Optimization & Clinical Development, Tokyo, 2006
  • Plenary Lecture, Analytica Conference 2006, Munich, Germany, 2006
  • Plenary Lecture, Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences 9th Annual International Symposium on Pharmaceutical Sc, 2006
  • Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Drug Metabolism, Plymouth, NH, 2006
  • Keynote Address, Great Lakes Symposium 2006, Buffalo, NY, 2006
  • Plenary Lecture, Journees Galeniques de Saint-Remy de Provence, Saint-Remy, France, 2006
  • Plenary Lecture, 2nd International Symposium on Scientific & Regulatory Aspects of Dissolution & Bioequivalence, 2005
  • Plenary Lecture, 9th International Congress of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring & Clinical Toxicology, 2005
  • Keynote Address, British Pharmaceutical Conference, Manchester, UK, 2005
  • Doctor of Philosophy, honoris causa, University of Athens, Greece, 2005
  • Career Achievement Award in Oral Drug Delivery, Controlled Release Society 2004 Annual Meeting & Exposition, 2004
  • Research Achievement Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress 2004, Kyoto, 2004
  • Opening Plenary Lecture, First Congress of the Portuguese Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2003
  • ISI Highly Cited Researcher, Institute for Scientific Information, 2003
  • Invested as a “Member of Honour”, Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, 2003
  • Chair, IOM/NRC Committee on Accelerating the Research, Development and Acquisition, of Medical Countermeasures Against Biological Warfare Agents, 2002-2004
  • Plenary Lecture, 10th International Conference on Pharmaceutical Technology, Florence, Italy, 2002
  • Invested as a “Miembro Honorario”, Academia de Ciencias Farmacéuticas de Chile, Santiago, Chile, 2002
  • Plenary Lecture, International Pharmaceutical Technology Symposium 2002, Istanbul, Turkey, 2002
  • Elected Fellow, American Association of Indian Pharmaceutical Scientists, 2001
  • Høst-Madsen Medal, International Pharmaceutical Federation, 2001

Education & Training

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  • Ph.D. Graduate Division (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) University of California, San Francisco 1965

Websites

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Grants and Projects

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Publications (493)

Top publication keywords:
HepatocytesCytochrome P-450 CYP3ACyclosporineBiopharmaceuticsNitroglycerinIntestinal AbsorptionCytochrome P-450 Enzyme SystemMetabolic Clearance RatePharmacokineticsMicrosomes, LiverTherapeutic EquivalencyDrug InteractionsLiverModels, BiologicalPharmaceutical Preparations

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