Neal L. Benowitz is an American academic physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), with expertise on the pharmacology of nicotine and tobacco addiction.
He then spent the next year working as a fellow in clinical pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco.
[4] The American Society of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics bestowed the Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award on Benowitz in 1999, and the Oscar B.
[13] At the time, some were concerned that he might have a conflict of interest due to the fact that he had served as a consultant to GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, who make smoking cessation products, but Benowitz dismissed these accusations, saying that he didn't see a "direct conflict of interest" because the panel does not oversee smoking cessation products.
[13] In 2011, tobacco companies Lorillard and RJ Reynolds sued the Food and Drug Administration, claiming that Benowitz, along with Jack Henningfield and Jonathan Samet, had conflicts of interest that disqualified them from being members of the committee.