Dr. Marc Benton

Throughout his career, Dr. Benton has developed a straightforward philosophy for patient care: “I tell patients that I have three jobs,” he says. “One is to figure out what problem they have; two is to get them on treatment that works, and three is to make sure they’re happy with it. If we can do those three things, then they are where they need to be.”

Dr. Benton’s journey into sleep medicine began with his appreciation for science and for learning new things. After earning his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Brown University, he received his medical degree from Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. He then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he decided to focus on pulmonology.

This led to a fellowship in chest medicine at New York University Medical Center in the mid 1980s, just as sleep medicine was starting to emerge as a specialty. Dr. Benton became what he describes as a “sleep nerd,” fascinated by the field’s rapid changes and its potential to dramatically enhance people’s daily experiences. “Sleep medicine is almost always a good-news situation. I love that we’re able to directly improve the quality of patients’ lives,” Dr. Benton says.

In 1988, Dr. Benton joined Pulmonary and Allergy Associates, a specialty practice in New Jersey, where he practiced pulmonary medicine, critical care, and sleep medicine for two decades. He pursued additional sleep medicine training, and over time, this became the major focus of his work. Over time, Dr. Benton helped build the Morristown Medical Center Sleep Lab, worked at several other specialty practices, and served as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he taught medical students about sleep disorders. He then became Medical Director of the Sleep Center for Summit Medical Group, a multispecialty practice with more than 300 locations across five states.

What sets Dr. Benton apart is his individualized manner of getting patients engaged and helping them stick with treatment plans. He recognized early on that traditional sleep medicine methods often resulted in poor outcomes because solutions didn’t address patients’ particular circumstances. “A lot of what you have to do to improve sleep ends up being somewhat counterintuitive to what we think of as common sense,” Dr. Benton explains. “It really involves a deeper dive into lifestyle, co-morbidities, personal preferences, education, and getting people to understand things.”

Dr. Benton realized that even when he tailored treatment regimens to patients’ needs, many people struggled to maintain the changes needed to improve their sleep. He saw this in action in an unlikely arena: golf. After organizing golf trips with friends for years, he noticed that several chronic snorers in the group had severe, undiagnosed sleep apnea. Once treated, these people reported not only feeling better but also playing better golf. Intrigued, Dr. Benton designed and conducted a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in 2013 demonstrating that treating sleep apnea with CPAP therapy significantly improved golf performance.

The study’s implications extended far beyond the golf course. Sleep treatment has also been shown to improve cognitive function across a host of other areas, including better performance at work, safer driving, improved decision-making, and overall enhanced quality of life. This insight helped him develop strategies for motivating patients by connecting sleep treatment to outcomes that matter most to them personally, whether that’s improving work performance, enhancing athletic ability, strengthening family relationships, or managing other chronic health conditions.

“It’s really a matter of getting into people’s heads, figuring out what matters to them, and convincing them that you’re not there to give them one more thing on their checklist to be worried about,” he says. “In fact, you’re going to help improve their overall situation and in many cases trim back their checklist.”

Dr. Benton has consistently stayed at the forefront of technological advances in sleep medicine. He has long embraced telemedicine for sleep care, recognizing that virtual consultations could provide greater flexibility and immediate access for patients. He has integrated digital health tools and wearable technology into his practice, using real-time data to monitor patient habits, detect patterns, and intervene early when problems arise.

At Atria, Dr. Benton brings together all his experience and creativity in a setting that aligns perfectly with his vision for patient-centered medicine. “Atria enables us to provide a much more comprehensive assessment, much more personalized, precision solutions, and closer follow-up to ensure we’re getting the kind of outcomes we want,” he says.

Dr. Benton is particularly excited about the opportunity to collaborate across specialties at Atria. “Creating relationships between brain health and metabolic programs and cardiac programs, and acquiring data that goes across different disciplines allows us to truly understand the whole person,” Dr. Benton says.

Outside of his medical practice, Dr. Benton is an avid golfer and a passionate sports fan. He enjoys hiking, exercising, reading, and spending time with his friends and his wife, their two children, and one grandchild.