Ben developed an early interest in how cells regulate transcription, differentiation, and the cell cycle while an undergraduate at the University of Vermont. He pursued these themes during his doctoral studies with Dr. Andrew Lassar at Harvard Medical School and expanded his focus as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Thomas Jessell at Columbia University, investigating how neural fates are specified and motor circuits are assembled in the developing spinal cord.

He began his independent research career as a faculty member at the University of Michigan Medical School before moving to UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology. Ben’s laboratory continues to study the mechanisms of cell fate specification, differentiation, and neural circuit formation, with the broader goal of applying these insights to better understand and model neurological disorders using human pluripotent stem cells, organoids, and assembloids.

Ben's UCLA Affiliations also include the Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, and the Molecular Biology Institute.