That mindset now fuels his broader mission to confront one of healthcare’s deepest challenges: health disparities. COVID-19 exposed long-standing inequities in who receives care and who suffers most. For Benson, the solution requires both immediate and long-term action. Through Aequitas Health, his Aspen venture and a new medical honor society, he is cultivating a new generation of physician leaders committed to equity. As Chief Scientific Officer of the Preparedness and Treatment Equity Coalition (PTEC), he brings together private sector partners to fund research that bridges data, preparedness, and fair access to treatment.

A nationally recognized academic clinician and researcher, Benson has authored over ten national practice guidelines and published more than 75 peer-reviewed works. He is currently a Board of Regents member at the American College of Critical Care Medicine and previously served as Chair of the Section on Critical Care at the American Academy of Pediatrics and advised organizations like McKinsey & Company on population health, value-based care, and data strategy.

Benson is an Aspen Health Innovators Fellow in Class 5 and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. We caught up with him at the 2025 Resnick Aspen Action Forum to hear his reflections on leading through crisis and transforming healthcare through equity and compassion.

Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

In moments of uncertainty or crisis, what personal values guide your decisions and help you move forward?

Over the last few years, I’ve been very moved by the loneliness epidemic. My personal mission statement is creating experiences and spaces that cultivate resilience and build joy. That is a through line for how I want to impact every individual I come into contact with, but I think specifically for those who tend to be underserved – helping them learn how to cultivate resilience and build joy. Right now my impact journey looks like creating those experiences and working with intentionality and strategy to bring folks into those spaces who wouldn’t normally feel like it was a place for them.

What I’ve really learned is that certainty during a crisis is something you want to avoid unless you’re absolutely 100% sure. Embracing uncertainty in your response to crisis is important.

The second thing we learned through COVID – and this comes from my experience as an intensive care doctor – is to take that first step. Often during a crisis, you don’t know what to do five days, five months, five years down the road. But you know what the biggest issue is right now.  For example, in a code, I fix the most important thing, I get that done, then I tackle the next one, and fix the next one. Taking that first step in a time of crisis is also very important.

What’s the problem you’re committed to solving?

The problem I’m committed to solving is health disparities. We have so much literature out there, understanding the fact that there are communities being left behind in the way that we deliver healthcare. COVID revealed this to a magnitude never before seen, where we saw certain communities dying quicker, hospitalized more often, suffering way more than other communities. This is the crisis that I hope to solve.

However, I understand that this is a crisis that will take time. So I approach it from two perspectives. One is a personal one. Seeing my patients learning their histories, being more engaged, understanding where they’re coming from, is my personal first step. But at the same time, I understand that future generations will have to take up the mantle. With that in mind, I’ve created Aequitas Health, my Aspen venture to create a future generation of physician leaders dedicated to combating health disparities.

What keeps you going?

What motivates me in times when I’m beaten down, when there’s just so much polarization in the world, when it feels like you just can’t dig out, is my family. My son is here with me at the Youth Action Forum. He is a biracial child in a community that quite honestly, isn’t quite diverse. So I want to ensure that he has the right tools, the right perspectives on life. And engaging him through the Youth Action Forum, I think, is one of the best ways I’ve been able to do that.

At the same time, I also know that there are thousands and millions of kids like him in a world that’s polarized, that constantly face crises. And I want to work as much as I can to do the best I can to create a better world for him in the years to come.

Tell us a little bit more about the impact session you’re leading at the Action Forum.

Our topic is broad  and I will offer a slight slice of that. It’s really about the impact of immigration policies on our children. And as a physician, I see it through a lens of how it impacts them socially and medically.

Kids are fearful. They are in a state of distress right now, and I worry that we are creating intergenerational trauma through the policies that we have currently in the US around immigration. So I’m going to talk a lot about that fear, what that translates to for our kids on the ground and what that means for their social development and their medical care.

About the Aspen Global Leadership Network

The Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) is a dynamic, worldwide community of nearly 4,000 entrepreneurial leaders from over 60 countries. Spanning business, government, and the nonprofit sector, these leaders share a commitment to enlightened leadership and the drive to tackle the most pressing challenges of our times. Through transformative Fellowship programs and  gatherings like the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, AGLN Fellows have the unique opportunity to connect, collaborate, and challenge each other to grow and commit to a lifelong journey of impact.

More from 2025 Resnick Aspen Action Forum

In July 2025, over 500 leaders across the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) community gathered for our largest Action Forum to date. Joined by nearly 100 young leaders, AGLN Fellows from more than 30 countries returned to the enduring questions first posed at at the founding of the Aspen Institute 75 years go: What does it mean to lead with purpose in times of profound uncertainty?

Explore more inspiring content on leadership and change-making from the 2025 Action Forum here.