David Benaron

David A. Benaron (born November 21, 1958) is an American digital health entrepreneur, physician, and former Stanford University professor. His work in the field of medical optical imaging, digital health wearables, and predictive behavioral and health Artificial Intelligence led to the founding of multiple public companies. He is a member of SPIE (the International Society for Optics and Photonics), and a founding editorial board member of the Journal of Biomedical Optics.[1]

David Benaron
Born (1958-11-21) November 21, 1958
Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation
  • Digital Health entrepreneur
  • Chief Medical Officer
  • Physician
Notable work
  • Invented green light wearable heart rate sensor
  • Co-Invented in vivo imaging of bioluminescent genes in opaque mammals
  • Helped create the digital health movement analytics and devices field

Education

Benaron studied biochemistry at University of California at Davis.[2] He completed graduate school at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Sciences and Technology programs.[3] He completed fellowships in physiology at the National Institutes of Health under Dr. Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, in biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Britton Chance, and at Stanford Medical School in neonatal intensive care under Dr. David K. Stevenson.

Career

Academic

Benaron joined the faculty of the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University in 1989. During his 13 years as a professor, he contributed to key accomplishments and events in neonatology, including the development of novel imaging techniques – such as the first optical imaging of infection in vivo ‒ with colleagues Chris Contag, Susan R. Hintz and David K. Stevenson,[4] as well as founding the Stanford biophotonics lab. He left Stanford in 2002, but continued his association with the university as a consulting professor until 2016.

Entrepreneur

Benaron founded his first company when he was 13, and received his first venture capital while in medical school for a device to improve medication compliance.[5] However, it was his work in medical imaging and analysis at Stanford that led him to establish five biotechnology companies specialized in optical sensing and optical imaging.[6] Among his innovations are the green light heart rate sensor now found in wearable health bands; the use of glowing genes to image and track cancer and infection in the body (luciferase imaging),[1][7] and the use of white light spectroscopy for analysis and imaging inside the body,[8] for example for measuring oxygen saturation in tissues.[9]

Four of the companies founded by Benaron, or for which he developed the technology, have attained initial public offering (IPO) or merger.[10][11] He holds over 70 patents.[12] In 2002 he received the Tibbetts award from the United States Congress for commercialization of scientific innovations[13] and was inducted into the Stanford Inventors Hall of Fame in 2012 for his "glowing mice" – a technique that uses bioluminescent bacteria for real-time pathogen imaging.[2][14]

Digital health

Benaron was a strategic advisor for California-based mobile technology company cellNumerate from 2012-2015. He became Chief Medical Officer at Jawbone, focusing on the development of wearables for monitoring health metrics, after the acquisition of his company Spectros in 2015.[15][16] He joined Jawbone Health as Chief Medical Officer (one of its two C-level officers) in 2017.[17][18][19]

At a panel on precision medicine at the 2016 BIO International Convention in San Francisco, Benaron spoke about a future where the need for regular health check-ups could be replaced by wearable health monitoring, and where big data and precision medicine could help to prevent chronic disease through early detection.[15] More recently, he has been working to extract deep intent from analysis or the digital exhaust we leave behind during our daily activities, to understand mood, motivation, and mindset.[20]

Personal life

David Benaron was born in Los Angeles, California to Canadian parents. His grandparents were Russian and Polish immigrants. He has two children[21] and 3 exotic wild cats at the Siesta Annex Wildlife Sanctuary: Jabari (an African Serval), Friend (a quarter Bengal bobcat) and Zabu (a first-generation African Serval hybrid), held under USDA and California Fish and Wildlife permits.[1]

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References
  1. "David Benaron". SPIE Professional. April 2008. doi:10.1117/2.4200804.02. ISSN 1994-4403.
  2. "David Benaron, MD". www.doximity.com. March 24, 2019.
  3. "David Benaron: Executive Profile". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  4. "Overview and history". Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine. Stanford University. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  5. "Pill reminder cap flashes red, sounds alarm". San Francisco Examiner. April 6, 1984. p. 31 and 34. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  6. Weingarten, Michael (September 9, 2008). "An Overview of the NCI SBIR Program by the Director of the National Cancer Institute (Slide 41)". Slideplayer.com.
  7. "Lab mice glow when genes turn on". Stanford Medicine News Center. October 9, 1997. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  8. "Spectroscopy illuminator with improved delivery efficiency for high optical density and reduced thermal load". Google patents. October 16, 2018.
  9. Erickson, Mandy (Fall 2006). "A defibrillator in every pot?". Stanford Medicine Magazine. Stanford University.
  10. "David Benaron". Crunchbase. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  11. "Xenogen Corp". Crunchbase. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  12. "Patents by Inventor David A. Benaron". JUSTIA Patents. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  13. "Science Blog -- 71 R & D Program Participants Receive SBA's High-Tech Tibbetts Award". www3.scienceblog.com. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  14. News, Stanford. "New members inducted into Stanford Inventor Hall of Fame | The Dish". news.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  15. Comstock, Jonah (2016-06-09). "Jawbone's secret 2015 acquisition sheds light on its rumored clinical wearable". MobiHealthNews. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  16. Olson, Parmy (2017-02-06). "Report: Jawbone Is Jumping Out Of Consumer Wearables". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  17. "Jawbone Health Hub: What we know so far". Wareable. 2017-08-21. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  18. "Jawbone Health Hub Company Profile: Funding & Investors". -PitchBook. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  19. "Report: Jawbone Is Jumping Out Of Consumer Wearables". Forbes. February 5, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  20. predictivEmotix. "predictivEmotix". predictivEmotix. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  21. "Lori Ann Benaron, Obituary". Whidbey News-Times. July 3, 2002. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
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