Reeve Benaron was born in New York City; he graduated from Brown University and Yale School of Medicine. He then completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, followed by a fellowship in Cardiology at the UCLA Medical Center.

He then served as Head of cardiology at a small, private clinic in Westchester County, New York, before joining the Department of Cardiac Sciences at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles as Director of Cardiac Cath Lab and Interventional Cardiology. Reeve Benaron´s research interests include coronary artery disease and heart failure. He co-founded The Caring Foundation.

Reeve Benaron explains that it is a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding ALS research and providing personalized assistance to families coping with ALS. In addition to the above, he is a board member of The Caring Foundation, which provides funding for ALS research, runs free support groups, and offers professional counseling. Benaron’s journey with ALS was chronicled in his memoir “The Sound of Her Voice.” 

After a diagnosis of ALS in 2001, he participated in a clinical trial for interferon (Rebif) to fight the disease. He was one of the first people ever to receive this drug:

By 2004 he had lost almost all use of his arms and legs and most of his speech and swallowing (Natureworldnews). 

He was working as a medical writer, a daily task requiring only his fingers’ movement. In 2005 he published “The Last Walk,” an account of his final steps that includes the story of the city he lived in, the people he met, and the challenges and challenges he overcame. Reeve Benaron received praise from reviewers and was nominated for both a Lambda Literary Award ) and a PEN/E.O.