Robert Benfari has spent most of his career in teaching, research, and practice. In addition to teaching in the Extension School, Benfari was an assistant and associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and a visiting professor at Tufts University Medical School. He continues to teach at schools in Argentina, Ecuador, and Mexico. In 1994 he was awarded the JoAnne Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award and in 2008 was honored for 25 years of teaching in the Extension School.
His research has addressed perceptual vertigo in a pilot training program for the US Navy, cross cultural studies of mental health, assessment of management talent, and behavioral interventions for changing health habits—the multiple risk factor intervention trial (MRFIT). Benfari was the director and principal investigator for MRFIT, a clinical investigation that studied mortality from coronary heart disease in high risk men. According to Benfari, the trial succeeded in influencing the lifestyles of the people treated. He notes that after six years, 50 percent of the smokers stopped smoking.
Benfari has an active consulting practice, and works with industry and government to understand management style and conflict resolution. He has published widely in the areas of applying psychology to management style, leadership training, and psychiatric epidemiology. Benfari earned his bachelor's degree from Colby College, his MBA from Babson College, his PhD from Albert Einstein, and his MSPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.