Dr. David J. Benefiel, MD

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Get to know Otolaryngologist, Dr. David J. Benefiel, who serves patients in Sebastopol, California

Board-certified anesthesiologist, Dr. David J. Benefiel, is currently an Independent Business Owner with Benefiel Biomedical Consulting, a company he established in 1980. He has developed his business in parallel with his professional journey as an anesthesiologist. Dr. Benefiel offers consulting for the engineering and development of medical devices.

Dr. Benefiel has a demonstrated history of working in clinical research, healthcare consulting, anesthesia, medical devices, and medical education. He retired from practice in 2013 from Northern California Anesthesia Physicians Inc in San Francisco, California, where he had served as Director Emeritus since 2002. He has also taught cardiac anesthesia to fellows and residents in the clinical setting at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine (1999-2012).

Dr. Benefiel commenced his journey in the medical arena in 1977 when he graduated with his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. After a one-year internal medicine internship conducted at Boston University, Dr. Benefiel completed a residency in anesthesiology (1978-1980) as well as an echocardiography fellowship (1983-1984) at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. Prior to medical school, he acquired a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1971) as well as a Master of Science in Engineering degree with a focus on Chemical Engineering from Princeton University (1973).

Dr. Benefiel attained board certification in anesthesiology through the American Board of Anesthesiology. The American Board of Anesthesiology sets standards and exams for the accreditation of Board certified anesthesiologists coming to the end of their residency. It is one of the 24 medical specialty boards that constitutes the American Board of Medical Specialties.

Anesthesiology is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during, and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, and pain medicine. Anesthesiologists have the primary responsibility of monitoring the patient’s vital signs during surgery. In addition to basic measurements such as pulse, blood pressure, and temperature, they measure the patient’s respiration.

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