He was a professor of mind/body medicine at Harvard Medical School and director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute (BHI) at MGH.
The result published in 2006 concluded that intercessory prayer has no beneficial effect on patients with coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
He founded the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine of the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2006,[11] where he became its director.
[1] Benson died from heart disease and kidney failure at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, on February 3, 2022, at the age of 86.
[8] In the 1960s at Harvard Medical School,[12] Benson pioneered mind-body research, focusing on stress and the relaxation response in medicine.
In his research, the mind and body are one system, in which meditation can play a significant role in reducing stress responses.
[1][13] In 1998, Benson started a research project on the efficacy of prayer among patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
The project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, was explicit that its objective was not to prove or disprove the existence of God.