Neal Benowitz, MD is a Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences and the Chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG), a leading site for biomarker assessment of tobacco toxicant expsoure. Dr. Benowitz has been conducting research with the university at ZSFG since 1973. His research focus is on the human pharmacology of nicotine in relation to pathogenesis of and individual differences in vulnerability to tobacco-related disease, and the use of pharmacologic data as a basis for public health policies to prevent and reduce such disease.

Dr. Benowitz is the former president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) and the recipient of the Ove Ferno SRNT Award for Clinical Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. He has been a contributing author or editor to six US Surgeon General's Reports on tobacco, including the 2010 Surgeon General's Report - How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease.

Moreso, Dr. Benowitz has served on a number of national and international committees addressing issues in tobacco-related diseases and smoking cessation, including several sponsored by the Institute of Medicine. Authoring over 500 publications, including a state-of-the-art review on nicotine addiction in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2010, Dr. Benowitz is a leading authority on the human pharmacology of nicotine and nicotine addiction.