Jorge Benach is a medical researcher at the Stony Brook University in New York state. Benach is the chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. Benach's main area of research is the tick-borne spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is the causative agent of Lyme disease. Benach also has begun to investigate organisms that could be used as bioterrorism agents, specifically Francisella tularensis, the bacterial agent of tularemia.