Obama taps Regina Benjamin for new surgeon general
President Barack Obama has nominated Regina M. Benjamin as the nation's new surgeon general.
"Healthcare reform is about every family’s health and the health of our economy,” he said in making the announcement Monday. “And if there’s anyone who understands the urgency of meeting this challenge in a personal and powerful way, it’s the woman who will become our nation’s next surgeon general.”
The founder and CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., Benjamin is the immediate past-chairman of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States and previously served as associate dean for rural health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. In 2002, she became president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, the first African-American woman to be president of a state medical society in the United States.
“The American Medical Association is delighted that Regina Benjamin, MD, has been nominated to serve as our nation’s next U.S. surgeon general,” said J. James Rohack, MD, president of the AMA. “Her many impressive accomplishments, including receiving a 2008 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the ‘genius grant,’ leave no doubt as to her qualifications.”
Benjamin holds a BS in chemistry from Xavier University in New Orleans. She was in the second class at the Morehouse School of Medicine and received her MD degree from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and an MBA from Tulane University. She completed her residency in family medicine at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.
"Dr. Benjamin’s most important qualification for surgeon general is her deep commitment to her patients. We are particularly gratified to see her recognized for her work caring for patients in rural Alabama, and for her commitment to rebuilding her rural health clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,” said Rohack. “She is a true professional who puts her patients first.”
Benjamin received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in 1998 and was elected to the AMA's Board of Trustees in 1995, making her the first physician under age 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected. She was named by Time Magazine as one of the "Nation's 50 Future Leaders Age 40 and Under” and received the 2000 National Caring Award and the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from Pope Benedict XVI.
“We look forward to seeing Dr. Benjamin serve as an advocate for all the nation’s patients, as our country works toward health reform that provides high quality, affordable health coverage for all,” Rohack said.
