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Dana-Farber head to retire next summer

Edward Benz Jr. oversaw transformation of cancer center since 2000

Dr. Edward Benz Jr.Bill Brett/Globe staff/file 2014/Globe Freelance

The chief executive of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said Tuesday that he would step down after a 16-year run that saw the specialty hospital become a fund-raising powerhouse and change from a regional center to an international destination for cancer research and treatment.

Dr. Edward J. Benz Jr., Dana-Farber's longest-serving chief executive, said he will leave the job in June 2016, a month after his 70th birthday. He is the area's second top health care executive to announce his departure in recent months. Dr. Gary Gottlieb left as chief executive of Partners HealthCare in March.

Under Benz's tenure, fund-raising at Dana-Farber quadrupled to more than $200 million a year from a network of 300,000 donors. The number of patients seeking treatment at Dana-Farber tripled and revenues grew to more than $1 billion from $265 million.

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Dana-Farber also opened a new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care in 2011 while strengthening partnerships and establishing new ones with several hospitals in Boston and beyond. But even as the institution expanded, Benz and Dana-Farber kept their focus on patient care and cutting-edge research that might find cures for the disease in its many forms, colleagues in the health care industry said.

Ronny Mosston, a patient advocate who was treated for breast cancer at Dana-Farber, said Benz never forgot the people who needed help — and hope. All decisions, even small ones, like where to put the coat hooks in the women's restroom, included advice from the hospital's patient advisory group, she said.

"What's different to me about Dana-Farber comes from the strategic commitment from Dr. Benz . . . the patient consideration, the patient view," said Mosston, a member of the Patient and Family Advisory Council. "He sets the tone."

Benz, a hematologist, plans to continue his research and his teaching role at Harvard Medical School. In a letter to colleagues and supporters, Benz said he wanted to leave before he risked becoming "stale."

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"It's been a wonderful run," Benz said in an interview.

Benz was named chief executive of Dana-Farber in 2000 after serving as chairman of the department of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. He holds degrees from Princeton University, Yale University, and Harvard Medical School.

Much of Dana-Farber's fund-raising success has come from its highly visible charity, the Jimmy Fund, and its many events, including the Pan-Mass Challenge and a telethon done with the Boston Red Sox. Once known mainly for leukemia treatment, Dana-Farber now handles a wide range of cancers, specializing in the rarest and most aggressive forms of the disease.

Local health care leaders who have worked with Benz credited him with increasing Dana-Farber's business, raising its profile, and advancing cutting-edge research.

"He has shepherded a really important institution through a period of exciting advances in the cancer field," said Dr. Jeffrey Flier, dean of Harvard Medical School. "He has developed a cadre of outstanding cancer scientists and programs of great note."

Benz also guided Dana-Farber through the last recession, when crashing financial markets and dwindling donations led to a plunge of nearly 30 percent in its endowment. The endowment has since rebounded to an all-time high of about $900 million.

"He's out and about promoting the institution all the time," Dr. Michael J. Zinner, clinical director of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center. "We are a nationally recognized brand name now. It happened through his leadership."

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Despite Dana-Farber's recent successes, Benz noted that many challenges lie ahead. Federal research funding has become scarcer in recent years, pressuring organizations like Dana-Farber, where most of the medical staff are involved in studying new ways to test and treat cancer.

"Even when our investigators get federal grants, the federal grants no longer pay the full cost of research," Benz said. That means Dana-Farber is spending more of its own money on research.

Retaining top-notch faculty is another challenge, Benz said. And as other hospitals develop cancer treatment centers, Dana-Farber is facing increasing competition for patients.

In addition, Dana-Farber and other health care providers must adapt to market changes driven by the federal health care overhaul, including new payment models that focus on quality of care and outcomes, rather than the number of procedures and visits.

Benz said he is giving the board of trustees more than a year to find his successor, someone he hopes will be "tough enough to deal with all these challenges but kind enough to inspire and lead the staff and our patients." The board will form a search committee to find a new chief executive.

"They are going to be large shoes to fill," said Jean Pearlstein, a longtime board member. "He's a very special kind of a man. I don't think I've ever met anybody as impressive as he is. He's got strength; he's got vision."


Priyanka Dayal McCluskey can be reached at priyanka. mccluskey@globe.com.

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