Benning Chairs Named

Rachel Hess is Chief Of The Division of Health System Innovation and Research and co-principal investigator of the Utah Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Her research focuses on increasing efficiency of health care delivery while ensuring it meets the physical, mental, and well-being needs of patients. She has a particular interest in these issues around the menopausal transition. Her work has advanced the science of identifying and measuring factors within the health care setting that impact care in order to understand and address both contributors and detractors of quality of life.

Louisa Stark is a professor of human genetics and has been director of the Genetic Science Learning Center (GSLC) since 2001, growing the center to a world-renowned organization with a multi-million-dollar budget. The GSLC websites, Learn.Genetics and Teach.Genetics, are among the world’s most widely used online science education resources. Stark and her team employ unique and rigorous methodologies, including randomized controlled trials, to develop effective educational modules for middle and high school students and the public. Currently, Stark is principal investigator on a large $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop educational resources for the public as part of the national All of Us precision medicine research program. 

As a professor of pediatrics and practicing pediatric cardiologist, Martin Tristani-Firouzi aims to understand the genomic determinants of cardiovascular disease in order to improve treatments and patient outcomes. By assembling multi-disciplinary research teams with expertise in cutting-edge bioinformatics, genomics, and population health, his research groups are making headway on tough problems, including congenital heart disease and sudden cardiac death in the young. His research has been cited nearly 10,000 times since 2010. Tristani-Firouzi is also a dedicated mentor to trainees from the Latinx community both in his own lab and in institutional training programs and is a primary provider of pediatric cardiology care to the Latinx community through the Mountain West.

The Benning chairs were established in August 2005 with a $22.5 million bequest from the late Arthur E. Benning, former president and chairman of the board of Amalgamated Sugar, in memory of his parents.