Dr. Gary Benfield

Dr. Gary Benfield, earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. For 35 years, he worked as a neonatologist at Akron Children's Hospital in Akron, Ohio, caring for seriously ill newborns and their parents.

His newspaper column, The Baby Beat, has appeared weekly for 17 years in The (Alliance, Ohio) Review and online at WalkingTheBabyBeat.com.

Dr. Gary Benfield, was born in Concord, North Carolina and grew up in a housing project in Baltimore. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering, worked a year, then graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Later, he earned a Master's degree in Philosophy from Kent State University.

His newspaper column, The Baby Beat, has appeared weekly for 17 years in The Review, Alliance, Ohio's daily newspaper, and on the Internet at WalkingTheBabyBeat.com. He has authored or co-authored three medical books and published numerous articles in medical journals.

More recently, Dr. Gary has authored a series of enchanting children's books: Making New Friends, Throwing Stones, a book about bulling and is currently working on Leaping Larry's Scary Adventure. Illustrated by the creative genius, Chris Sharp, each book in the series features the adventures of Leaping Larry, a lovable talking frog, and often his best friend, Cindy McDoogle. Boys and girls of all ages, as well as their parents and grandparents, will enjoy meeting Leaping Larry and Cindy whenever they read or hear these delightful tales.