From the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA.
Dr. Abram S. Benenson died on Monday, December 15, 2003, at home in Lenox, Massachusetts. He was 89 years of age. Bud, as he had been known since childhood, spent the majority of his professional life working in the fields of epidemiology, preventive medicine, and public health. After graduating from Cornell Medical School in Ithaca, New York, at the age of 23 years, Bud interned for 3 years before entering the US Army, where he progressed through the ranks to Colonel, Medical Corps, by the time he retired in 1962.
Dr. Benensons medical career spanned more than 60 years. It included such pinnacles as the eradication of smallpox; the development of the jet injector for vaccines and of oral rehydration for the victims of debilitating diarrhea; the editing of seven successive editions of Control of Communicable Diseases in Man for the American Public Health Association; and the production of over 140 published articles, contributing significantly to the medical literature on research into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, cholera, laboratory technology, and vaccine development.
At various stages in his career, he was the commanding officer of the Tropical Research Medical Laboratory in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Director of Experimental Medicine at Camp Detrick, Maryland; the director of the Division of Communicable Disease and Immunology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) in Silver Spring, Maryland; and the director of both the PakistanSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Cholera Research Laboratory in Dacca, Bangladesh, and the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory in Panama. In addition, Dr. Benenson held numerous faculty positions, including those at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington; and the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University in California.
Dr. Benenson was board certified in pathology, preventive medicine and public health, and microbiology. He also served on various commissions and committees throughout his career, for which his expertise in cholera, smallpox, immunizations, disease control, and biological warfare was utilized to make public health policy decisions at the state and federal levels.
Bud was honored many times for his lifetime of dedicated service to the US Army, his career, and his nation. He presented the Joseph E. Smadel Memorial lecture in 1981 and received the Commanders Award for Civilian Service in 1983 as well as the K. F. Meyer Gold-Headed Cane from the American Veterinary Epidemiological Society in 1984. In addition, he was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 1990 and both the Award for Excellence in 1991 and the John Snow Award in 1992 from the American Public Health Association.