Our Team
Christopher Benz, MD
Medical Oncologist
Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor and Program Director, Cancer and Developmental Therapeutics Program, Buck Institute for Age Research
Biography
When Dr. Benz came to UCSF in 1983, he established the first basic research laboratory at UCSF to focus solely on human breast cancer. Due to his longstanding interest in the role of hormones and growth factors in breast cancer, Dr. Benz has worked to develop new treatment approaches that rely less on chemotherapy and more on hormonal agents and novel therapeutics that target specific cancer-causing mechanisms, including oncogene pathways and growth factor receptors associated with breast cancer development and progression. He believes these approaches will ultimately prove to be much more effective and have fewer side effects than our existing chemotherapies. Since aging is one of the most important risk factors associated with breast cancer development, Dr. Benz's lab has also been studying how female aging impacts the biology of breast cancer, in order to design better treatment and prevention approaches tailored for each individual.
Dr. Benz graduated from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1972. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Vancouver General Hospital in 1972. After serving a six-year clinical oncology fellowship at the British Columbia Cancer Control Agency, Dr. Benz completed a research fellowship in oncology at Yale University School of Medicine in 1979. He then joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty as a junior professor until moving to UCSF in 1983.
When he isn't busy with patients or in the lab, Dr. Benz likes to spend time with his family, travel, visit new places in the Bay Area and California, swim, and hike in California's back country.
Education
University of Michigan School of Medicine, MD, 1972
Residencies
Internal Medicine, Vancouver General Hospital, 1972
Fellowships
Internal Medicine-Hematology/Oncology, VGJ/CCABC, University of British Columbia, 1972-1978
Oncology Research, Yale University School of Medicine, 1978-1979
Board Certification
Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine, 1978
Clinical Oncology, 1979
