C. Frank Bennett

C. Frank Bennett is an American pharmacologist. Bennett is currently the Senior Vice President of Research and Neurology Franchise Leader at Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He is a 2019 Breakthrough Prize winner in Life Sciences, which he shared with his collaborator Adrian R. Krainer for the development of an effective antisense oligonucleotide therapy for children with the neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy.

Early life and education C. Frank Bennett grew up in Aztec, New Mexico, where his family owned a small hotel. Bennett holds a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from the University of New Mexico and obtained a PhD in Pharmacology in 1985 from Baylor College of Medicine. Bennett completed a postdoctoral fellowship at SmithKline & French Laboratories with Stanley T. Crooke.

Career Bennett is one of the founding members of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in Carlsbad, California. awarded by the Hereditary Disease Foundation (2018).