Riverblindness in Africa is the culmination of Bruce Benton's forty-year career focused on development assistance for Africa. Much of that career involved leading a World Bank–sponsored partnership to eliminate the disease throughout Africa. His leadership on riverblindness was recognized by the World Bank president with a Special Presidential Award in 2000. Benton began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea in the mid-1960s. Subsequently, he earned a master's degree in African studies from Johns Hopkins University and one in development economics from the University of Michigan. He was responsible for commodity negotiations and the international development banks in the Office of the Secretary of the US Treasury throughout the 1970s, and advised the US Congress on foreign assistance prior to joining the World Bank in 1982. In retirement, Bruce taught global health at Georgetown University. Bruce and his wife, Patricia, live in Bethesda, Maryland, where they have raised four children. Recently they have begun transitioning to a new home and life of hiking, kayaking, and writing on beautiful Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest.
