Ben Barres

Benjamin Anthony "Ben" Barres (1954 – December 27, 2017) was an American neurobiologist. He was born in West Orange, New Jersey. He worked at Stanford University.[1] His research focused on the interaction between neurons and glial cells in the nervous system.

From 2008 until his death in 2017, he has been Chair of the Neurobiology Department at Stanford University School of Medicine. He transitioned to male in 1997, and became the first openly transgender scientist in the US National Academy of Sciences in 2013.[2]

Barres died of pancreatic cancer in Stanford, California on December 27, 2017 at the age of 63.[3]

Barres began to live as a man when he was 42. Barres said people thought his research was better when they thought he was a man than when they thought he was a woman. Someone once said "[Ben Barres'] work is much better that his sister's" because that person thought "Barbara Barres" was his sister and not his old name.[4]

References
  1. "Ben Barres Professor of Neurobiology, of Developmental Biology and of Neurology". Stanford School of Medicine. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  2. Goldman, Bruce (2013-05-08). "Distinction with a difference: Transgender neurobiologist picked for National Academy of Science membership". Scope. Archived from the original on 2013-06-16. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  3. "Neuroscientist Ben Barres, who identified crucial roles of glial cells, dies at 63". stanford News Center.
  4. Shankar Vedantam (July 13, 2006). "Male Scientist Writes of Life as Female Scientist: Biologist Who Underwent Sex Change Describes Biases Against Women". Washington Post. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
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